Love's Labors
by KevlarMasquerade
Summary: Following Trigon's defeat, things are going well for the Titans. Raven's discovering her new powers. Robin and Starfire are finally together. And then it all crashes around them when Raven develops a bit of a crush on the Boy Wonder. Includes RaeRobStar RobStar RobRae BBRae
1. Chapter 1

**Hi, guys! Happy to see you all again. As usual, this is a RobStar fic. Actually, I'm not really sure if this will remain a RobStar fic for long. Love triangles and all that. If you don't like fluff- which, if you have read my stuff before, you probably do- you might not want to do this. There is a lot of fluff, both because I wanted it and because the plot calls for it. The plot calls for some buildup, so don't get too antsy. Enjoy, guys. **

**Disclaimer: Teens Titans is owned by Warner Brothers and DC.**

Starfire let out a deep sigh of contentment before flopping onto her back on her circular bed. She lay for a minute with her shins hanging off the bed, hair splayed out around her in what was probably an unattractive way. She stretched her arms above her head, her fingertips reaching for her pillows, which were just out of reach.

"What's wrong?" Robin asked, mistaking her happy sigh for an uneasy or unhappy one. He flipped on the lights and the room was swathed in the warm pink colors of Starfire's duvet and rug.

She stretched her shoulders before propping herself up on her elbows. "Nothing!" she chirped, a smile tugging at her mouth. "I am just so joyous. I cannot contain it."

He sat on the bed next to her and for a second, his proximity making every blood cell rushing around her body tingle with electricity. It made her smile even wider. She hoped she didn't look stupid, smiling at nothing.

Robin didn't answer her. He just sat there, examining her face in a way that made her blush a little, so she hurried to continue talking. "Less than one week ago, Trigon was sitting on a throne that used to be our beloved Tower. The Earth had been reduced to rubble. And now everything is so perfect. Especially-" She almost bit her tongue to force herself to stop talking.

"Especially what?" Robin encouraged, sinking down to lean on one elbow.

Starfire gulped. Her mouth suddenly seemed to have too much saliva in it. "Especially us," she said, her voice coming out soft and vulnerable.

Robin rolled until he was on his stomach, closing the distance between them, his left leg brushing her right. He leaned down, bracing himself on his elbow, and kissed her softly.

She twisted the fingers of her right hand in the comforter as though she needed to hold on to something for fear of floating away. She brought her left hand up to the nape of his neck, burying her fingers in his hair. He slid his left hand down to her waist. They stayed that way for a few seconds before he broke the kiss.

He skimmed his hand up her arm before resting it on her cheek and caressed it with his thumb. "I agree," he murmured.

In the days since Trigon's defeat, things had been quiet. Robin was almost hysterical with the certainty that Slade was going to attack directly after the Titans returned to the Tower. Only Starfire knew that he saw Slade's skeletal face under his mask.

He was up late in the research room that night. She closed her eyes, letting the memory wash over her as she enjoyed their proximity.

Starfire had been pacing in the hallway, wringing her hands nervously. It was well after midnight, and she'd actually gone to bed and woken up because of a bad dream. She knew that if Robin was still up, he'd be in the research room, and the little crack of light that shone under the door and was trying futilely to light up the hallway told her she was right.

She knocked on the door and entered when she didn't hear an answer. Robin was standing under the light of a lamp, which was shining in a yellow beam that cut so precisely through the air that it lit only a small array of newspaper splayed out on the table in front of him. It did nothing to make the room as a whole feel less dark.

"Robin?" she called timidly.

He jumped. She'd never seen him jump at anything before, and it was disconcerting. She felt almost embarrassed that she'd caused him to do it.

He whirled around to face her, shouting, "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

She flinched. His face softened and he was immediately regretful. He gripped the table behind him to calm himself down. "Is everything okay?"

"Robin, you must go to bed." She tried to tell him forcefully so that he'd listen, but her voice came out weak and almost frightened.

He seemed to be trying to control his voice. His face was set in a determined and stony expression. "I will. I just want to finish this."

She almost walked away then. She imagined doing it, just leaving and curling up under the covers and listening to Silkie's contented rumbling sounds. He'd pretty much asked her to do as much.

But she thought of him here, alone, in the dark, exhausted. And in the morning, he would only be sleepless and edgy. She stepped closer to the table to read over his shoulder. "In that case, I would like to keep you company."

He frowned at her. "I don't know how much longer I'm going to be up."

"That does not bother me, Robin. What are you looking for?" She moved to stand next to him, but he blocked her path.

"Nothing," he said tightly.

She narrowed her eyes at him and pushed him out of the way. Her eyes fell on the barely-illuminated newspapers that were scattered around the table like a flimsy tablecloth. All of them had that familiar mask with its dual colors split down the middle, the flared eye. Or that five letter name that she hated so much.

"Slade?" she breathed, dread filling her stomach. "You are already-?" she cut herself off. She didn't want to insult Robin. He was acting so defensive already.

"It's not what you think," he said quickly.

She stared at him. What she thought was that he was being obsessive and that he would turn angry and start lying. And shut her out. "Robin, Slade helped us."

"I know, but don't you think that there must have been something in it for him?" he demanded, like he was trying to teach a little kid their three-times tables.

Yes, she did think that there was something in it for him: a world free of Trigon's rule. She didn't answer.

"There's nothing wrong with taking a preemptive strike." He sounded desperate. He wanted her to understand.

"There is when you turn into a… into a…" she stammered, trying to find the right words. "A stranger," she finished softly.

"Starfire." He said her name like a plea, only she didn't know what he was asking for. She had a vivid image of facing him in midair off the rooftop of Wayne Enterprises, Jump City. He was holding out a weapon that was fastened to his arm. In one moment he was holding it out at her, nearly point-blank. And then his look faltered, and he looked like his heart was breaking. And he said her name. _'Starfire, no-'_

She heard the same kind of desperation in his voice now.

"There's more going on than you know," he told her, his voice sounding as though it was coming from a throat that was too-dry and scratched up.

"Then _tell _me, Robin," she urged, matching his tone.

His eyes widened and he shook his head at her.

She sat stubbornly at a stool across from Robin's laptop. He looked up at her, giving her a look that said '_Please don't do this_.'

She crossed her leg over her knee and shuffled into a more comfortable position, as if to say, '_Watch me_.'

For the next hour or so, Starfire concentrated on staying awake. This was extremely difficult, since Robin refused to say anything else and the room was so dark and the rhythm of the clock on the wall and the rustling of newspapers were like lullabies.

Robin kept glancing up at her when he thought she wouldn't notice, frowning deeply. She could only guess that she was distracting him.

When he woke her up, she was first aware of the dark, and then she was aware that she was sitting on a stool. Embarrassingly, she'd folded her hands together on the table and used and used them as a pillow. She didn't remember drifting off, and she didn't even know what time it was, as it was too dark to read the clock.

"Star," he whispered, shaking her shoulder gently.

She was so startled she turned to him with glowing eyes. As he was illuminated by the green glow, she saw that he looked almost smug. She frowned. He must have thought of it as payback for scaring him earlier.

"You fell asleep," he explained needlessly, smiling.

"Did you accomplish what you wished?" she asked. Her voice sounded groggy, adding to her embarrassment.

He clenched his jaw. He opened his mouth to answer her, drew in a breath, and let it out through pursed lips. Then he blurted out, "You know, there are reasons I do this." He said it quickly, like he was trying to get it out before he could convince himself not to. Now that he had, he looked kind of like he regretted it.

"What are they?" Starfire asked, trying to stifle a yawn.

He clenched his jaw again. He leaned on the table next to her, and Starfire had the alarming feeling that she'd opened a secret chest that didn't look that big, only to realize that it was much deeper than she originally thought.

"Slade's dead."

Starfire narrowed her eyes at him. She charged a starbolt in her hand and held it between them for more light to better read his facial expressions. "But we just saw him-"

"I know. It was some kind of… magic." He paused. She didn't have to comment on the incredulity of the statement. "I swear. I saw his face. I mean, not his face. A skeleton of his face. It was Trigon. He was keeping Slade alive."

"Then he would be dead now, would he not?" she asked, trying to make sense of what she could.

"He was trying to restore his life; his body. _That's_ why he helped me get to Raven. I _have_ to find out what he's up to now. We need to find him. Does he have powers now? Is he dangerous to Raven? I even asked to be alerted of any unidentifiable bodies or objects that the police find for a while." Robin paused. "I can't let anything happen to my team."

"You cannot run yourself into the ground this way, Robin. We worry about you. _I_ worry about you."

It was an innocent admission, something he should have known already, but something about it made his face soften. "I'm okay," he mumbled, looking down at the ground.

She refused to let him make her feel too awkward to continue their conversation. "You stay here all night, you are angry and shut off during the day, you refuse to do the hanging out; all because you spend all of your energy and too much of your time holed up in this room like _you_ are the criminal." Her voice had been getting more and more emotional and she was struggling to maintain control.

Robin looked at her with the wide eyed, nervous look that most members of the male gender assume when a girl gets close to tears. "I don't think-"

"You do not think that you are that bad, but you are. You are so distant and sometimes I am afraid that something dark- something much darker than the corners of this depressing room- is waiting to lure you in and swallow you whole, and you will be lost to me forever. Do you not remember how the spores from Slade's mask nearly killed you?" Although her voice was now wavering with emotion and was now so loud that she realized belatedly that she should keep her volume down, her face was strong and her eyes were free of any tears.

Robin just looked at her after her outburst. She had shocked him, and he was exhausted, and the mention of the gas seemed to rattle him even further. He looked up at her slowly, unsurely, and muttered, "I need help."

She stared at him. She was so surprised that her starbolt flickered out and she hastily relit it. "Excuse me?"

He flicked his gaze back to the ground. He stepped a little bit closer to her so that he could speak in a lower voice and she would still hear him. "I- I get sucked in. I don't know what it is about Slade. I guess… he's like the opposite of everything I stand for. Batman took me and saved me. And Slade… he tried to take me in and corrupt me. And he tried to hurt you guys. Starfire, I couldn't live with myself if someone got away with hurting you. Especially if it was because of me."

She realized that at some point, they had crossed a line that somehow, a while ago, they both silently agreed not to cross. She crossed it first. Without realizing it, she told him that she didn't want to lose him. She'd said 'me' instead of 'we'. She wasn't talking about the whole team; she was talking about him and her. He reciprocated just then. He didn't want _her_ to get hurt. Suddenly her pulse kicked up and it was going so fast she could feel it in her stomach and hear it swishing around her head.

He was looking at her again. His gaze was unwavering and soft and worried. He shuffled a little bit closer. He was resting his hand on the seat of the stool, which Starfire didn't quite fill up. "I don't want to worry you. But I can't ignore this work. I just need someone to help me balance it."

"I can help you," she said quickly. It was like they were reading scripts from a play that she rehearsed so much that her response was automatic. She was glad, because otherwise she would have stood there stupidly, trying to think of something to say when all that she could think about was Robin and how close he was to her.

Then he tugged on her wrist, pulling her off the chair, and said, "I know." And he kissed her.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, her starbolt going out as she clenched her fingers into a fist.

"Star!" Robin called, pulling her out of her recent memories.

She snapped her head in his direction. He was sitting up at the edge of her bed, holding dark blue cloth in his hand. She hoisted herself into a sitting position and put her palm down on her duvet.

"What? Sorry. I was…" she let her voice trail off.

"Daydreaming," he finished. With a grin, he added "About me."

She smiled back, not giving away that that was precisely what she was doing. "What is that saying? 'The meek will inherit the Earth'?"

"Where'd you hear that? I thought you scorned Earthly religion and ancient beliefs?"

Starfire shrugged. "Yes. But it is interesting."

Robin shrugged. "What is this?" he asked, holding up the blue cloth again. "It's not pink, purple, or green, so I know it's not yours."

"That is one of Raven's old cloaks. I have been trying to turn it into a bed for Silkie with my limited skills of sewing. I keep beginning it and getting interrupted halfway through."

Robin dropped it back on the floor. "I didn't recognize it without the hood. How's Raven doing lately, anyway?"

Since Trigon's attack, Raven hadn't come out of her room, not even to eat. The rest of the Titans were worried about her, but the day before she'd called Starfire to her room to ask her to buy yards and yards of white fabric. When Starfire asked her what she was up to, Raven only told her that she was 're-finding her identity.'

She told Robin all this already, but he was worried. "She appears to be well, but I only spoke to her briefly yesterday."

"She's not eating or anything," Robin argued.

"She is fasting to concentrate her energies," Starfire explained. Okay, Raven hadn't actually told her that personally. When they meditated together, however, Raven sometimes mentioned fasting. Starfire could only guess that she was doing that now. "She has been through so much, Robin. She is not foolish. If she had need for us, she would call us."

He shrugged. "I guess you're right."

Starfire shuffled close to him. And wrapped her arms around him. "I am. Trust me."

Robin leaned back until he was lying with his back on the bed, bringing Starfire down with him. "I do," he murmured, brushing his fingers over her face.

She tugged him closer and pecked him on the mouth. "I love you." She felt heat flood her face as the words rolled off her tongue. They'd only started really dating a few days ago, but they both knew the feelings had been there for a while. It didn't feel rushed, like some people might think it would after dating for such a short time.

Robin crushed her to him, knotting his fingers in her hair as he kissed her. When he stopped, she felt breathless, even though the kiss wasn't that long. "I love you, too." He kissed her forehead "But I have to go."

She pouted at him. "Already?"

He rolled over so that they were both lying on their sides facing each other. "Yeah. I have to turn on the security alarm in the ops room."

She sighed. They'd agreed that they wouldn't sleep together in the same bed, at least not yet. They were already taking things so fast. There was no need to rush things even more. But right now, she wished they hadn't. "Stay," she said, looking up at him through her eyelashes.

He sighed. "Star. I can't. I mean… we probably shouldn't. Unless…"

She smiled at him. She found it cute when he was flustered. "It is okay. Go."

He sat up and peered down at her. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, Robin. I will see you tomorrow. Good night," she said with finality.

He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. "Good night, Starfire."

She waited until the door closed to give out another happy sigh and curl up in her covers, emotionally sated.

**I didn't really plan to start off on a flashback. But it just happened. I know that I keep doing this thing where they don't sleep in each other's rooms. I don't know how realistic that even is. I just figure that it took them so long to get together that they wouldn't all of a sudden take their relationship really quickly. Plus, I also usually end up doing this other thing where in some overly fluffy scene they decide to sleep in the same room. Soooo… write what you know? So yeah, I retconned Tokyo and season 5. Oops? Tell me what you think so far! Here's a little teaser for the next chapter, while I'm at it.**

"I'm gonna regret this, but… you can come in. You don't have to stand in the doorway like that."

Beast Boy gaped at her. She had never ever _ever_ invited anyone in her room aside from Starfire to meditate. Gingerly he took a step in. The doors whooshed closed behind him.

Raven braced herself for the comment on her creepy décor, or a cheesy joke about the two of them being in her bedroom together. But it didn't come.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for the feedback, guys. Before you read this chapter, just know that it's harder for me to write Raven than it is Starfire. I like Raven a lot, I think her backstory is really interesting and I think that she handles herself well for someone who isn't allowed to feel. But I usually don't write her very well. So let me know in reviews how I can improve!**

**Disclaimer: Teen Titans is owned by Warner Brothers and DC.**

Raven stretched her shoulders and reached her arms above her head as she let out a yawn. The candle she lit last night for light to read by was a short stump with a pool of melted and re-hardened wax at the foot of it.

She threw her covers away from her and smoothed them back into place over her mattress. She yanked the curtains open and bright morning light flooded the room, making the deep purple of her rug look paler than usual.

Raven pulled on her white leotard, fitted her belt over it, and shrugged on her white cape. She smoothed her hair down, looking uncharacteristically nervous.

She _was_ nervous. Her palms were covered in a sheen of sweat and she felt like she was standing on the edge of a cliff, looking over a long drop. She relished the feeling. All these emotions were still so new to her.

After a lifetime of repressing emotions, Raven could _feel_. Trigon's defeat must have released his dangerous presence in her emotions. Her powers didn't seem to be affected.

She was nervous about finally coming out of her room. As soon as she noticed the change, she decided to take some time to really understand herself. She was terrified that the change was only temporary, but it had been a full week and her emotions hadn't wavered. She was ready to face her friends now. She hoped they would realize what a big deal this was for her.

What had her most nervous was that she would know if they were happy for her. Her empathic powers had grown even stronger with her new emotions. She would be able to see into their minds. Or worse, into their souls. She was a little worried that she wouldn't be able to keep herself from their feelings.

She stepped into the hallway and closed the door behind her quietly. The smell of breakfast made her realize all at once how hungry she was.

"Hey!"

Raven froze. She wanted to go into the kitchen to surprise all her friends at the same time. She turned to Robin. The first thing she noticed was how _happy_ he was. He was smiling at her, but that wasn't what alerted her. She could feel it coming off him in waves. It was as easy as noticing a kind of cologne he might have been wearing. His mood affected her like a DJ turning up a slider on a mixer. The slider goes up- Raven's embarrassingly happy. The slider goes down- Raven's feeling depressed.

It all made her kind of dizzy.

But from Robin, she wasn't getting just happy. Happy she could deal with. Happy she felt even before Trigon's absence and the strengthening of her powers. It was something more, something deeper, something richer. It made her smile so widely that her cheeks hurt. She almost giggled, but she clamped her lips together before any sound could come out.

"Woah, you're looking really great!" Robin told her. He was standing in front of her now. She didn't remember him coming that close to her. All these emotions made it hard for her to focus.

"Thanks," she said, her stupid mouth bowing into another huge smile. Little bubbles of emotion rose up from her stomach like soda.

"I mean, the white outfit is cool and everything, but you look so…" he let his voice trail off, but Raven knew what he was going to say anyway.

Happy. She looked so happy. He didn't want to offend her, though. Because that was almost like saying, _Hey, you used to be really surly all the time, but you're not now, and it's better._ And that was rude. But she agreed with him. And besides, she was only so uncontrollably happy because _he_ was uncontrollably happy first.

"You're looking pretty good, yourself." She meant to convey that he looked happy, too, but as the words were coming out of her mouth, she froze. They seemed wrong. Oh, Great Azar… it sounded like she was flirting. With _Robin._ She was repulsed by the idea. He was like a brother to her.

But he just continued smiling at her, speaking in an even tone. She didn't know how he could sound so composed when inside of him the emotions were whirling around like a windstorm. "Are you gonna catch some breakfast?"

At the mention of food, Raven's stomach kicked against her insides. It gave a loud growl. "Yes. I'm dying for breakfast." It was an exaggeration. Probably.

"Come on! Everyone else is up already."

They walked down the hallway into the ops room. Pots and pans were clattering and no one noticed when Robin and Raven entered. Cyborg and Beast Boy were absorbed in their meat vs. tofu argument of the morning. Starfire was between, looking concernedly from one to the other.

"One of these days the scientists are STAR Labs're gonna wise up and send vegetarians like you to your own planet where you won't be able to bother everyone else with your gross food," Cyborg was saying as he held a pan out of Beast Boy's reach.

"That's stupid! Besides, where would you go? You drink oil and eat scrap metal for desert!" Beast Boy shouted back.

"I do _not!_" Cyborg answered indignantly. "I'm not _Muzzy!_"

"Friends, please. If it will abate the fighting, _I_ can cook breakfast for all of us to enjoy!" Starfire offered.

The boys' eyes widened with fear. They turned to her in unison and shouted "NO!"

She frowned, looking upset. Beast Boy's ears drooped and Cyborg stared at her unsurely. "Uh… uh, we mean…" Cyborg stammered, attempting not to hurt her feelings.

"Robin's here! Look, Star! It's Robin!" Beast Boy shouted, having just noticed Robin and Raven standing at the door.

Starfire gave him a confused look before turning. She gasped. "Raven!" She shot into the air and streaked toward Raven. She stopped short of flying into Raven with a rib-cracking hug and landed. "Um, Raven? May I…?"

Raven sighed and held her arms out in a gesture that surprised everyone. Starfire hugged her friend gingerly. "Okay," Raven muttered, patting Starfire's back. "That's enough."

Starfire stepped back.

"Hey, Rae, nice new digs!" Beast Boy said as he attempted to push Cyborg out of the way of the stove.

"Rockin' the white again, huh?" Cyborg asked as he completely ignored any attempt Beast Boy made to move him out of the way.

Raven smiled and nodded. It was a tiny smile, and she pulled it back quickly, but it felt kind of good.

The Titans ate a disorganized breakfast. Raven opted for cereal. Beast Boy, sitting across from her, kept glancing up and looking at her as he ate. "What?" she growled at him when she caught him doing it near the end of the meal.

Beast Boy wasn't embarrassed to have been caught in the act at all. "Nothing! It's just that you haven't eaten in a week, and all you're having is cereal?"

Raven frowned at him. "It's not like I'm going to have whatever you made."

He frowned back. "There's no reason to get offensive," he muttered.

"It's not offensive, it's just true," Cyborg pointed out.

Beast Boy stuck his tongue out at his friend before spooning some tofu eggs into his mouth.

After their breakfast, the Titans took to hanging out in the ops room, as usual. Raven sat on the ground and opened her book, but she wasn't really reading it. She was too busy drinking in the emotions of her friends.

She'd been able to read emotions before, but never like this. Before she had to concentrate to get a clear reading, and then she didn't _feel_ it. She just knew what they were feeling. She seemed to be absorbing their emotions now. Taking them in and making them hers. She should probably work on controlling it, but she was enjoying it too much for now.

Beast Boy and Cyborg were playing video games, an activity which usually didn't interest Raven much. But now it was so interesting that she couldn't concentrate on anything else.

They were so absorbed in the game that they were putting everything they had into it. Not only were they leaning left and right with the direction their avatar was going, but they put their emotions into it. Anger, piercing and sudden. Joy, pride, the rush of victory. Annoyance, frustration. Raven lost herself in the time it took for them to go a few rounds. No wonder they liked it so much. It was an emotional smorgasbord.

Robin and Starfire were giving her a lot to work with, too. They were just talking- about what, Raven couldn't tell, but they were being really quiet so it must have been private. She couldn't even guess. They were having weird emotional spikes. She could frustration rolling off Robin in waves, and curiosity and worry from Starfire, and maybe sometimes a little bit of sadness. And then she would feel that same feeling that Robin had before- it was so sweet and all-consuming. Whenever the feeling quieted, Raven waited impatiently for it to spike again. It made her fingertips tingle and her stomach flip and it made her so deliriously happy.

Raven had never known Robin to be indulgent. And that's what this emotion that she couldn't place seemed to be- indulgent. If Robin could feel so intensely, then she must be able to, too. She was overcome with a desire to ask him what it was. She tried to keep her eyes on the book in front of her.

That feeling came again and Raven snapped her book shut. She couldn't take this anymore. She didn't really want to interrupt them. They were talking softly to each other, heads bent so close to each other that their foreheads were almost touching.

Raven cleared her throat. "Starfire?"

She snapped her head up, smiling at Raven. Raven could tell that she and Robin weren't annoyed at being interrupted, and she was grateful. "Uh, I was wondering if you wanted to come meditate with me."

Starfire floated up off the couch, leaving Robin without hesitation. "Of course! I thank you for the invitation!"

Starfire was so excited that she was almost dragging Raven back to her room. As Raven began lighting candles around them, she asked casually, "So… What's up with you and Robin?"

Starfire looked confused, then covered her mouth with her hand as she gasped. "Oh! Raven! You were not told! I apologize! A few days ago, we began the ritual of 'dating'."

Raven wasn't surprised. She should have picked up on it sooner. "So are you two, like, in love?" She shouldn't have asked that. It was too blunt. She winced as the words came tumbling out of her mouth.

Starfire didn't seem to notice. "I believe so." She couldn't stop herself from smiling as she said it, and Raven was hit with a wave of that delirious, dizzying emotion that made her forget everything else. Love. "Oh, Raven, it is wondrous. I do not know if you could tell, but I have been waiting for this for quite some time now."

Raven rolled her eyes. As if anyone couldn't tell that Starfire and Robin had annoyingly obvious crushes on each other. Instead of pointing this out, Raven just said, "Nope."

They meditated for a few minutes, even though Raven didn't really feel like it. She wasn't focused enough to meditate. She didn't understand how Starfire could be so in love and just forget the rush of feeling that it gave her to be calm enough to meditate.

Starfire left and Raven was laying on her bed thinking about this. The amount that she herself seemed to be controlled by her own emotions was a little alarming. Maybe she needed more practice. She should probably take her mirror out and meditate… check on red Raven and the others. She picked up her mirror and was about to start chanting when a knock came on her door.

She opened it with her powers. It was Beast Boy. "No," she said quickly.

He looked confused. "What do you mean, no?"

"I don't want to referee Stankball, or see if you can eat ten Saltines in a minute without drinking water, or-"

"Chill, Raven. I just came by to say hi," he said with a small smile.

"Oh." She wasn't expecting that. "Then… Hi."

"I was just wondering… why the costume change?"

"What?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"No, nothing. Just… uh… after that whole… Malchior thing… You wore all white then, too. I was just wondering if everything was okay," he admitted. He kicked at the floor where Raven's rug started and the tiled floor ended.

Raven gave him the tiniest of smiles. "No, I'm okay. It's not about that. Before, I felt closer to my emotions, so I changed my look to something… freer. I feel that way again, so… I did that again."

Beast Boy nodded.

"I'm gonna regret this, but… you can come in. You don't have to stand in the doorway like that."

Beast Boy gaped at her. She had never ever _ever_ invited anyone in her room aside from Starfire to meditate. Gingerly he took a step in. The doors whooshed closed behind him.

Raven braced herself for the comment on her creepy décor, or a cheesy joke about the two of them being in her bedroom together. But it didn't come.

"So, is it White Raven now?" he asked with a smile.

She arched an eyebrow at him. "Huh?"

"You know. Because Ravens aren't really white. Before, it fit. Because your outfit was black. But now it's white, so…" he let his voice trail off as he realized that his joke was a dud.

"We don't call you Green Beast Boy. And we don't refer to Robin as Traffic Light, the Boy Wonder," Raven pointed out.

Beast Boy laughed. "Good one!"

Raven smirked down at her hands. Then she frowned. "Hey, Beast Boy? Can I ask you something personal?"

Beast Boy furrowed his eyebrows. "Um. I guess. Shoot."

"Do you think you loved Terra?" she asked quietly.

His mouth flopped open. She could feel his emotions rise up: lost, hurt, confused, betrayed, disappointed, heartbroken… Then they closed up suddenly, like the surface of water moving seamlessly back into place after it sucks something back into its depths.

"I don't know," he answered quietly. "I mean, I didn't know her that long… And she betrayed me- betrayed us- and that hurt." He was quiet for a minute. Raven didn't know if she should say anything or stay quietly respectful of his feelings. She tried to read them, but it was too dampened. There was a lot of hurt, she could tell. "Maybe I didn't. But I _thought_ I did." He turned his green eyes toward Raven. "Did you love Malchior?"

Now it was Raven's turn to be shocked at his question. "I- No, of course not. I was confused. I was lonely." She didn't mean for it to sound like she was blaming him. It wasn't neglect on behalf of the Titans that made her turn to Malchior for comfort. It was just that she felt so _different._

"You're not alone, Raven. We're your friends. We're here for you." He gave her a reassuring smile, then added, "Even if you don't laugh at my jokes."

She thought of Robin, carrying her on his back out of the trenches of the Earth. She smiled at Beast Boy. "Yeah. I know. Thanks."

Beast Boy smiled at her. "No problem." He got up to walk out of her room, still feeling unsettled from discussing Terra.

Raven waited until he was gone to sprawl out on her bed, stomach down. Beast Boy felt so strongly for Terra that even moths after she was gone a veritable whirlwind of emotions almost knocked her off her feet. She craved that kind of a relationship. She wanted to feel those things. She bit her lip.

It was almost a primal feeling- desire. She resented it. But she wanted the breath to get knocked out of her lungs because she was really feeling something, not because she was reading someone else's emotions like some kind of parasite.

She was depressing herself. She pushed herself up to a sitting position in an attempt to get herself to stop moping.

Thankfully, the lights in her room went out and were replaced by a flashing red light and a siren. There was trouble.

**You should all know something. I based this story on a teeny tiny, two or three issue long arc in the 80s comic where Raven makes Nightwing think he's in love with her after she gets the power to manipulate other peoples' emotions. That happened after they defeated Brother Blood, but Brother Blood in the cartoon is a lot different than the Brother Blood in the comic. So I fudged it a little. And, don't think that just because Raven can have emotions without making things explode means that she's going to do a complete personality 180. Let me know what you think! Teaser:**

"I'm Kid Flash! What do you call yourself?"

"Starfire! I am pleased to make your acquaintance," she replied happily.

"She's cute, and she has good taste," Kid Flash said to Robin. He turned his attention back to Starfire. "If things don't work out with Jinx, maybe you and I can- Ah hah hah, that was a joke Rob," he clarified after Robin shot him a blood chilling glare. "I'm more of a one woman man. If you want someone to chase two girls at once, I'll give you Speedy's number. So I'm guessing you two are-?" He allowed his gestures between the two of them to speak for him.

Robin nodded.

"Ah. Forget what I said about good taste. Seriously, the traffic light thing doesn't bother you?" Kid Flash asked Starfire. He pinched the fabric of Robin's cape between two fingers and held it out. Robin snatched his cape back from his friend and shrugged it back into place. "Plus, he's kinda broody for my taste."

**Kid Flash and bothering Robing all at once! Stay tuned!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Throwback to season five! Because, since I retconned season 5, Kid Flash and Jinx never hooked up, or whatever it is that actually happened between them. And that is unacceptable, because Flinx.**

**Disclaimer: Teen Titans is owned by Warner Brothers and DC.**

After meditating with Raven, Starfire went back to the ops room to find that Robin wasn't there. She asked Cyborg and Beast Boy about it and they said he left after she did. Luckily, she knew exactly where he'd be.

She wasn't upset about it; it wasn't like she forbade him from ever going to the investigation room. No that she really _could_ stop him from going. He was probably just going while she was busy so that she didn't have to join him there later. They'd been spending about an hour in there every night since they'd gotten together, and truthfully, Starfire found it boring. She mostly sat there and waited for Robin to finish, but he liked having her there with him and she found it comforting to know that he wasn't there alone.

She punched in the keycode to the investigation room and the door slid open obediently. Robin was hunched over his laptop, holding a few newspaper clippings in his left hand while he typed with his right.

"That was quick," he observed over his shoulder.

"Yes," Starfire answered, taking her usual seat on the metal stool. "Raven seemed to be more in the mood for talking rather than for meditating. She seems very contemplative to me."

Robin finished typing whatever it was that he was searching and clicked enter before answering. "Well, I guess she's got a lot to think about."

Starfire nodded in agreement even though he wasn't looking at her. "You are searching for more information about Slade?"

Robin turned to her after scanning the results of his search. "No, actually I'm looking for more info on this." He handed her the article he was holding.

'There's A Reason the H.I.V.E. Is HEXagonal' was emblazoned in bold lettering across what looked like the front page of some newspaper. Starfire scanned it quickly. "This is about Jinx? The one with the pretty hair and the leggings?"

Robin raised an eyebrow at her. "The one whose power is pink hexes?" he clarified.

Starfire nodded. The article was about her remarkably high scores, placing her at the top rank of the Academy currently, and it said that she was on course to be one of the most lethal graduates in the history of the school; second after an assassin named Cheshire who graduated a year ago.

"I'm searching more about her and Cheshire. We haven't crossed paths with Cheshire yet, and it says that she's based in West Asia right now, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared," he explained. Robin turned back to his computer and started typing again.

Starfire set the newspaper clippings on the table next to her and grasped for something else to talk about. Robin tended not to be very focused on conversation, and it was hard for her to think of something to talk about all the time. "Robin, do you think my cooking is bad?"

He froze, then turned to her slowly. "Um. Why?"

"Beast Boy and Cyborg both seemed quite alarmed when I offered to do the cooking of breakfast for them," she answered. She wasn't really upset about it, she was just wondering. "On Tamaran, my cooking skills are enviable," she added.

"I'm sure they are," he said soothingly. "But I think that there are a few differences between food on Tamaran and food on Earth that make it-"

"So my cooking skills _are_ lacking?" she interrupted. She was disappointed. She liked Earth food, and she liked cooking it. She thought that what she made was pretty good.

Robin opened his mouth to answer her, then closed it.

She narrowed her eyes expectantly.

Robin came up close to her and took her chin between his thumb and forefinger. "I don't think anything about you is lacking," he told her honestly.

Her stomach fluttered wildly and she shut her eyes against the dizziness. She felt him lightly brush his lips against hers and she leaned forward, bracing herself with her hands around the rim of the stool. He let her deepen the kiss and he raised his hand to tangle it in her hair. He brought his other hand to the small of her back and she was leaning so far forward that she couldn't let go of the stool rim for fear of falling off. She had a feeling that he was purposely keeping an odd amount of distance between them. She growled against his lips and he smirked ever so slightly.

She gave in and let go of the stool, stumbling messily to her feet. Robin caught her with his arms securely around her waist, their lips inches apart. "Falling for me?" he asked, his amused smirk much bigger now. Starfire swatted him across the shoulder before hooking one arm around his neck and pressing the palm of her other hand against his chest. He pressed their lips together and Starfire raked her fingers down his chest. She could feel him shudder slightly and he kissed her even more fervently.

The dim lighting in the room went completely black, which the two teens hardly noticed, and a red glow flashed slowly. An obnoxious sound filled their ears as the sound of the low-pitched and computerized klaxon blared proudly, cutting through the gentle whirring of Robin's computer and the intimate noises their lips made against each other.

They both froze, still attached at the mouth. Robin pulled back gently and regretfully, letting loose an impolite word. He leaned his forehead against hers and took a few steadying breaths. Now _she_ was smirking at him. He blushed a little.

"Let us go, Robin," she murmured, her voice coming out a little husky in a way that made Robin even more hesitant to let her go.

He released his hold on her waist and she slid her hands away from him. He groaned as she stepped away from him. "I think Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Raven got it covered, don't you?" he asked playfully.

She gave him a wide smile. "There is no reason we cannot continue where we left off after returning to the Tower, Robin."

"Let's hurry up, then," he urged, pushing her through the door in over exaggerated haste.

They made their way to the ops room, where Beast boy and Cyborg seemed to be waiting impatiently. At the sight of Robin and Starfire entering the room together, they snickered to each other. "What took you guys so long?"

"On second thought, we'd rather not know," Beast Boy said before Robin or Starfire could answer.

Robin glared at him. He glanced around. "Where's Raven?"

"I'm here," she answered, levitating through the doors. "What's the trouble?"

"Looks like the H.I.V.E. Five's hitting up the museum uptown," Robin answered, glancing at the screen.

"The museum?" Beast Boy spluttered in disbelief. "Who robs a museum?!"

"Just because you're averse to all things intellectual…"

Beast Boy glared at her.

"The tricky thing here," Robin continued, "is going to be not breaking anything." He stood up and faced his team. "Let's go, guys."

They made their way as usual, Starfire carrying Robin, and Beast Boy in the shape of a pterodactyl, carrying Cyborg. They landed at the museum and walked past the guards sprawled out on the floor after Raven confirmed that they were just knocked out.

They paused at the entrance. The villains were too absorbed in what they were doing to take any notice of the Titans. As Jinx reached for a box that contained an ancient necklace rumored to bring good luck to the wearer, Robin called out, "Need a little luck?"

Jinx retracted her hand and looked up at them. She gritted her teeth in annoyance. The rest of her team stopped what they were doing to stare at the Titans, their expressions ranging from surprise and annoyance to anger and fear. "No. But you're gonna. H.I.V.E. Five, eat 'em alive!" Jinx commanded in a regal tone.

"Titans, go!" Robin called. They jumped into action all together. Beast Boy shifted into a tiger and snarled at See-More; Raven shot dark energy at Kyd Wykkyd; Cyborg shot a blast from his cannon at Gizmo; Starfire hurled a starbolt at Mammoth; Robin leaped into a circle of Billy Numerouses.

Jinx looked at the chaos around her and chuckled to herself, reaching for the necklace. She unleashed a hex and the glass box around it folded open obediently.

See-More shot a laser beam from his eye at Beast Boy, who shifted to a rabbit and hopped out of the path of the ray. He hopped in a zigzag pattern until he got within physical range of See-More, then shifted to a kangaroo and kicked him in the stomach.

Robin grabbed a handful of explosive discs from his belt and swept himself in a tight circle, letting the discs loose as he spun. The result caused several Billys to go flying against the walls or, satisfyingly, into each other. Robin grabbed his bo-staff and extended it, curling his fingers back toward his inner wrist with a confident smile. The remaining Billys launched themselves at him, and he was able to keep most of them away with a spin of the staff. The others he dispatched easily with sweep kicks or strategic punches.

The rest of the Titans were having a slightly harder time. Raven and Kyd Wykkyd seemed to be pretty evenly matched. Raven kept throwing dark energy at Kyd Wykkyd only for him to disappear before it reached him. Raven kept deflecting his physical attacks with shields made of black energy.

Starfire was having a tough time since Mammoth seemed to be able to deflect her starbolts. They were almost equally strong, but Mammoth had the upper hand there since he was used to relying solely on his strength in fights while Starfire was accustomed to having her starbolts and using her strength as backup.

Gizmo and Cyborg, as usual, were trying to avoid being hacked while also trying to hack each other.

Gizmo hopped on Cyborg's back and was about to shut down his system when a red and yellow blur pulled him off and sliced through the steel legs of his backpack. Gizmo fell to the ground with a thud and crawled away as Cyborg advanced on him, cracking his knuckles in a sinister way.

Starfire was trying her best to hold her own against Mammoth, but he was pushing her back against the wall. Her eyes glowing, she gave a final push- but it still wasn't enough. He pushed her back against the wall and she grunted in pain.

Mammoth turned when he felt a tap against his shoulder. A boy in a red and yellow jumpsuit with a somewhat ridiculous mask (accessorized with little red wings like Hermes') stood behind him. He stuck his tongue out at the gargantuan teenager and wiggled his fingers at him tauntingly. Forgetting Starfire, Mammoth took swings with his arms legs at the hero, who dodged easily and mocked his enemy while doing so.

"Forget the Titans! Get him!" Jinx shouted from where she stood with the necklace clutched between her fingers.

"Kid Flash!" Robin shouted with a smile as he turned from what remained of Billy Numerous's clones.

"That's me! The Fastest Boy Alive!"

Jinxed growled and shot a pink ray at the ceiling above him, which cracked and fell toward him. Kid Flash scooped up Starfire, who was in range of the falling debris, bridal style and carried her over to where Robin was standing before the support beams and duct work even hit the ground. Mammoth shouted in surprise as the debris fell on him.

Kid Flash set Starfire down on her feet next to Robin and gave her a little push in his direction. "Do you two know each other?" he asked. "Because if you don't, I know he dresses like a Christmas and puts too much effort into his hair, but he's not a bad guy. You should give him a chance."

Starfire smiled at the redhead and glanced at Robin, who was taking the joke in worse humor than his girlfriend.

Kid Flash curled his last three fingers in and pointed his thumb and index finger in the shape of a gun. He made a clicking noise as he pressed his thumb against his index finger like he was pulling the trigger and winked at his friend before taking off again.

"Who-?" Starfire asked, tilting her head at Robin questioningly.

"Kid Flash. Good friend of mine. Thinks he's funny when he's actually being a-"

Kid Flash appeared in front of them again, interrupting Robin. "He loves me," he told Starfire as he gave Robin a brotherly punch on the arm. Then he was off again.

"He has an endearing personality!" Starfire chirped. Robin raised an eyebrow at her.

Kid Flash started running in tight circles around See-More and Kyd Wykkyd, creating a twister. He ran like that out the door and returned a couple seconds later without them.

Jinx sighed and put the necklace on the display case. "If you want something done," she grumbled, "do it yourself."

She turned to Kid Flash and shot a hex at his feet. He was gone before the ray even hit the ground where he used to be standing. He ran around Jinx in a circle, making her dizzy and knocking her off balance. She started to fall to the ground, but a yellow and red blur came up from behind and caught her before she hit the ground. He pressed a rose into her hand.

She lashed out at him, trying to hit him in the face and stomp her heel into his toes at the same time. He tilted her forward so that she wouldn't fall and disappeared. Jinx's eyes glowed bright pink and the petals of the rose fell off, littering the ground at her feet.

The rest of the Titans had converged around Robin and Starfire. "Um… what now?" Beast Boy asked, confused by the interference of The Fastest Boy Alive.

Robin shrugged. "I'm gonna hang out to talk to Kid Flash. You guys can head home if you want. Good work, guys."

Cyborg snapped a pair of handcuffs around Gizmo's wrists after pulling them behind his back. Starfire retrieved Mammoth from the pile of rubble and Cyborg snapped a pair over his wrists, too. He walked over to Billy Numerous to take care of him.

The familiar red and blue lights cast rapidly moving shadows in all directions as the light filled the dimly lit room.

"We'll go talk to 'em. C'mon, B." Cyborg turned toward the door to handle the cops for Robin so that he could catch up with Kid Flash.

"Aw, but-!" Cyborg gave him a stern look. "Ugh. Fine," Beast Boy grumbled.

"Thanks, Cy," Robin said gratefully. As much as he liked being leader, he got fed up with all the paperwork and diplomacy sometimes.

Raven was standing a little bit apart from Robin and Starfire, watching as Kid Flash ran around Jinx. He wasn't attacking her, but he kept dodging her blasts until they would eventually backfire on her. Then he'd bring her a rose, which seemed to infuriate her even more.

"What's he doing?" Raven asked in a funny tone.

Robin tilted his head at her. "I dunno. Flirting, it looks like. Are you okay?"

Raven turned to her friends. "Yeah. I'm fine. I'll meet you back at the Tower."

Starfire and Robin watched her as she hastily exited from the museum. "Do you think that I should go see if she requires-?" Starfire asked, turning toward the door.

Robin grabbed her wrist. "With Raven, it's usually better to give her some space first," he advised.

She looked at him uncertainly, then glanced at the door. She sighed worriedly. "I suppose that you are correct."

Jinx jumped on the display case for the necklace, not bothering to grab it, and jumped into the ductwork her team used to enter the museum. Kid Flash did a quick sweep around the museum, setting things back in their correct places. He came to a stop in front of Robin and Starfire.

"Um, you're letting her-" Robin began.

Kid Flash waved his hand dismissively. "It's okay."

"I don't think she's very impressed with you," the Teen Wonder pointed out.

His friend just shrugged. "She'll come around. Don't worry! I don't plan on pulling a Batman."

Robin glared at Kid Flash. "Dating a villainess is _not_ pulling a Batman," he said tightly.

"Whatever. It doesn't matter, cuz that's not what I aim to do. You'll see, Rob. It's an elaborate plan." Kid Flash winked at Starfire. "Hi there. Didn't catch your name."

She glanced at Robin in confusion. "Catch…?"

Kid Flash looked at Robin for help. "She's not from around here. She's not very good with idioms," he explained with an amused grin.

"Ah. Take two: I'm Kid Flash! What do you call yourself?"

"Starfire! I am pleased to make your acquaintance," she replied happily.

"She's cute, and she has good taste," Kid Flash said to Robin. He turned his attention back to Starfire. "If things don't work out with Jinx, maybe you and I can- Ah hah hah, that was a joke Rob," he clarified after Robin shot him a blood chilling glare. "I'm more of a one woman man. If you want someone to chase two girls at once, I'll give you Speedy's number. So I'm guessing you two are-?" He allowed his gestures between the two of them to speak for him.

Robin nodded.

"Ah. Forget what I said about good taste. Seriously, the traffic light thing doesn't bother you?" Kid Flash asked Starfire. He pinched the fabric of Robin's cape between two fingers and held it out. Robin snatched his cape back from his friend and shrugged it back into place. "Plus, he's kinda broody for my taste."

"Okay, enough already," Robin snapped.

Kid Flash smiled triumphantly. "Your fuse is even shorter than you are!"

Robin ignored that. "How's Keystone?"

"Aw, you know I haven't been in a while. I was back in Central for a while, but then things with Fran went kinda sour… Then I hung out in Steel for a while and I figured I'd come crash your party, too."

The boys stood talking for a while, with Kid Flash stopping occasionally to make a joke at Robin's expense. Robin's communicator started buzzing its alert and he flipped it open. He frowned at Kid Flash. "It's your girlfriend," he groaned.

"It's okay, I got it," Kid Flash offered with a grin.

Robin sighed and typed the system bypass code in to let the other Titans know that the situation was under control.

Kid Flash turned to Starfire. "It was nice meeting you. Keep him sane." He mimed tipping his hat to her before he disappeared in a blur and a gust of wind.

Robin turned to her. "Okay, about the things he said about my-"

Starfire laughed. "I assure you, his words do not change my perception of you." She paused, and she made her voice a little quieter. "I believe we were in the middle of something when we were interrupted."

Robin just looked at her, and as understanding crossed over his features he began to get a little flustered. "Uh, we- you mean- Star-"

She laughed again. She hovered above him and took his hands in hers and took off toward the Tower.

**Sometimes I just like to irritate Robin in my fics… it's not like he makes it very hard. I know that this was really similar to the episode "Lightspeed", but I really wanted some Flinx in here. What did you guys think? Here's your teaser:**

"Uh yeah, just… Did you hear that?" Cyborg asked, eyes going round.

Raven glanced behind her. "What? There's nothing there."

"Hello, friends!" Starfire sang as she and Robin came in through the open window.

Cyborg spun around quickly, eyes wide, sonic cannon poised at Starfire. He looked at his friends, who gave him baffled stares.

"Cyborg…" Robin said slowly. "You have to lower your weapon. _Now_."


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Teen Titans is owned by Warner Brothers and DC.**

Raven landed in the ops room, enjoying the quietness of the Tower. It was a relief. Since she'd come out of her room this morning, she'd been so distracted by everyone's emotions that she couldn't get a minute to think clearly.

Raven made her way to room, taking calming breaths. She was upset by the appearance of Kid Flash. She was grateful to him for helping them, especially since they kind of needed it. But the wave emotions from his was confusing.

Their enemies didn't pose a problem for her. They were mostly only feeling greed, an emotion that was strong but had no desirous pull like love or happiness. It didn't distract her. She liked fighting Kyd Wykkyd, because he didn't seem to be channeling any emotions, which in retrospect was a little strange, but she wouldn't judge him for it. She should know better than others that it probably wasn't his choice. She wasn't winning against him, but the battle was fast paced and mostly physical, and she held her own extremely well.

She stood in front of the door to her room and punched in the keycode. The doors whooshed open and she stepped inside. She started to light candles for the second time that day.

But Kid Flash came into the heat of battle, and his emotions were so open. He was having a really good time. The other Titans, especially Robin, had fun when they battled, too. She could always sense. But Kid Flash was on a whole level. He was happy to be there.

He also was strangely fascinated with Jinx. The only reason this put her over the edge was because it deepened her melancholy. She felt like _everyone else_ was in the middle of some great epic love story except for her. It made her insides feel like they were slowly getting sucked down a drain. She hated it. And, now that she didn't have to hold back her emotions, she was getting wrapped up in the depressing feeling.

Meditating would help. It always had. Just because she didn't strictly _need_ to control her emotions didn't mean she couldn't. She felt Beast Boy and Cyborg's emotions, slightly tired from talking to the police, but also relieved that they were back. She frowned. The more she used her empathic powers, the less she seemed to be able to control them. The thought made her panic a little, like an icy fist was closing around her stomach. Maybe she should have continued reining in her emotions as usual.

"A-Azarath. Metrion. Zinthos," she chanted slowly and deliberately. She took calming breaths, in through her nose, out through her mouth. "Azarath. Metrion Zinthos."

She gritted her teeth as her head was filled with the sound of the alarm going off. "For the love of Azar," she muttered. It stopped after a few seconds. She should probably go to the ops room and check to make sure everything was okay, but she continued levitating in the air. She wasn't even sure she was in any condition to fight right now, anyway.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos."

She was starting to feel more relaxed now. She was fine. She was just overwhelmed by all these new emotions. She wasn't losing control; she just needed to get used to it. Adjusting to a new way of life was difficult.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zin-"

"Raven? Rae? C'mon, open up." It was Beast Boy at her door. _Again. _She considered not answering him, but he was concerned. She sighed and blew the candles out with her powers. She lowered herself, still cross-legged, onto the floor and reached her hand behind her head, opening the door.

"Uh… are you busy?" he asked. At least he sounded like he was sorry for interrupting her. And she could tell that he was sorry. But Raven was still annoyed.

"No. I go in my room expressly so that you can come knocking on my door every ten minutes." Raven twisted around so that she was facing him. He at least had the sense to look uncomfortable. "What?" Raven demanded impatiently.

He looked at her unsurely. "I was just… You never came out to check the alarm. And I know that everything's all different for you now… I just wanted to make sure you were doing okay," he mumbled.

Raven frowned. Now she felt like an ass. "Beast Boy. I'm fine," she told him gently but firmly. "Sorry for snapping at you."

That seemed to alarm him even more. Great. Nothing was more surprising than Raven apologizing. "Are you sure?" he pressed, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

Raven sighed. "Yes. I'm great." She paused, reading his emotions. She almost screamed in annoyance- he felt even more suspicious now. "Okay, not great. Just, you know, average. There's nothing wrong, really."

Why wouldn't he just believe her? She wanted him to go away. She appreciated that he was concerned about her, but it was needless. Not to mention, a waste of both their time. She just wanted him to calm down. She tried to calm herself down, first. It wasn't like she could force him into calmness by being stressed out. Hopefully her mood would rub off on him.

He looked at her blankly, and then his emotions quieted, like a blanket was laid over them. "Okay. Sorry I bothered you."

Raven stared at him, raising an eyebrow. "What?"

"What?" he repeated. "I believe you. I guess I sorta panicked before, because you're my friend and I thought something was the matter. But I guess I…" The changeling hesitated and stuck the tip of his tongue out thoughtfully. "I wasn't being very calm about it."

"Calm?" Raven echoed. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Of course not. You're _never_ calm."

Beast Boy shrugged. "Well I am now. I was gonna go play a round of Super Ninja Fury with Cyborg, but I think maybe I'll take a nap."

Raven paled. It couldn't be a coincidence that this was exactly what she wanted in the first place, and now Beast Boy was perfectly calm and quiet. _She_ must have done that. Excitement tickled at her stomach. But she had to make sure she hadn't done something bad to him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah!" he answered with a smile. "Just really _relaxed, _you know?"

Raven nodded slowly. He left her room. She didn't know what to do. She was getting excited. How easy would it be, from now on, to just _make_ their enemies regretful, or tired, or anything else to keep them at bay while the Titans just slapped handcuffs on them. Simple!

She should test this out. Cyborg was sitting in the ops room, waiting for Beast Boy to come back. Before she could even really consider what she was doing, Raven slipped into the hallway and made for the ops room.

As the door whooshed open, Cyborg shouted, "Okay, Green Genes, ready to get your butt kicked?"

"It's me, Cyborg," Raven answered, letting herself sound amused.

"Oh, sorry. Did you see Beast Boy? He went looking for you to-"

"Yeah, yeah I talked to him. He said he wasn't feeling well. He said something about a nap," she answered vaguely.

"Huh. Really? He was probably just scared to come back and face me," he said with smug smirk. "I play a meannnnn ninja," he boasted.

"Right." Raven paused. What should she make Cyborg feel? Something simple and obvious, different from what he was feeling now. Ah, she got it. She felt a little bad about it, but she decided to go with fear. She looked at him guiltily. Maybe she should ask him first? "Hey, Cyborg, can you do me a favor?"

He furrowed his eyebrows together worriedly. "'Course. What is it?" he put his controller down which Raven appreciated.

"Um, it's going to sound weird, but I want you to let me scare you," Raven mumbled.

He gave a confused look. "What for?"

"I just want to see if I can," she answered elusively. She didn't really want to go into detail about Beast Boy or her powers or anything. She didn't want to explain everything while there was a chance it might not work at all.

"I guess I owe you for the help you gave me with the T-car a couple months ago. What the heck, give it your best shot," he offered, standing and crossing his arms over his chest expectantly.

Okay. Raven took a deep breath, focus. Fear. She wanted Cyborg to feel fear. She chanted it in her head. Fear. Fear. Fear. "Anything?" Raven asked.

Cyborg gaped at her. "You… didn't do anything yet, Raven."

Raven sighed. "Yeah. Give me a minute." Maybe she needed to feel fear and pass it on to Cyborg. She was kind of calm when she was talking to Beast Boy, if a little annoyed. She was in the middle of meditating, so calm must have been her strongest emotion. So she needed to get scared.

She remembered that night her powers reenacted a horror movie in the Tower. Her friends taken down, her powers not working, having no idea why… The hairs on the back of her neck pricked up. _Okay, Cyborg, feel _this_. Fear. Fear._

He uncrossed his arms and leaned forward.

"You okay?" Raven asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh yeah, just… Did you hear that?" he asked, eyes going round.

She glanced behind her. "What? There's nothing there."

"Hello, friends!" Starfire sang as she and Robin came in through the open window.

Cyborg spun around quickly, eyes wide, sonic cannon poised at Starfire. He looked at his friends, who gave him baffled stares.

"Cyborg…" Robin said slowly. "You have to lower your weapon. _Now_."

The cybernetic blinked, like he was in a daze. "Uh… Jeez, guys, sorry. You really scared the crap outta me." His canon was replaced with his robotic hand. He wiggled his fingers as extra proof that he wasn't going to bring any harm to them.

"I apologize, Cyborg. It was not my intention," Starfire said. Raven could tell she felt guilty.

Robin was still looking at Cyborg warily, not very happy with a weapon being aimed at his girlfriend's face. "Just don't let it happen again. Anyway, how was the situation with the cops?"

"Oh, fine. I told them Kyd Wykkyd and See-More were somewhere around, probably incapacitated, and Jinx got away. They wanted to know about damages, and they weren't very happy when I told them that Jinx put a hole in the ceiling, but it was fine," Cyborg explained.

"Good," Robin said with a nod.

Starfire walked over to Raven. "I was worried when you parted so abruptly. You are okay?

"Of course I-" Raven paused. Getting Cyborg to get scared was one thing, but maybe she should try something on Starfire. Starfire was so used to feeling all the time, she wondered if she would sense the difference between a genuine emotion and one Raven planted in her mind. "Actually, I could use a talk. Do you think you could come to my-"

Raven was cut off by a hug. Her air supply was momentarily cut off as Starfire crushed the other girl around the neck. "Of course! I am so glad that you are opening up to me, Raven. It is glorious, the new freedom that I can see you now possess!"

Raven pushed Starfire off roughly. "Yeah," she choked.

Starfire nearly dragged Raven behind her in her haste to get to her friend's room.

Raven was thinking excitedly. What should she try on Starfire? It couldn't be happiness, because for a reason that Raven couldn't imagine, Starfire was _really_ happy right now. It couldn't be love, either, because, annoyingly, Raven could feel that lingering under the surface. It would have to be a negative emotion.

"Starfire, you're one of my best friends," Raven said guiltily.

Starfire beamed at Raven. "Thank you! I feel that you, too, are of above average importance in my life. Best friends," she repeated.

Raven winced. That didn't help her feel less guilty. "Sometimes I need help with things, and it's good to know that I can turn to you for help," she began slowly.

Starfire cocked her head worriedly.

Raven started building it. Sadness. The way she felt the night of her birthday, knowing that she was going to end it all. The way she felt when Arella couldn't even help her. She closed her eyes, and then she felt almost like she was leaning forward, even though she was keeping perfectly still Reaching out to Starfire with her emotions.

This was different. There was some kind of barrier. Raven pushed against it, gritting her teeth.

"Raven?" Starfire asked, her voice thick with worry. Raven could actually _feel_ the worry, like it was rolling under the surface. Something about the shift in her emotions made Raven able to break through. She felt it. A connection. But something still wasn't right.

Raven sighed, breaking the strain between them. The reaction she got from Starfire was almost instantaneous. Tears welled in the alien girl's eyes. Raven flinched back. The sadness that Starfire was feeling now was more intense than what Raven felt when she pushed it on her. "Um, what's the matter?" Raven asked nervously.

"I am worried about you, friend. I do not mean to display my emotions in such a way, but I cannot contain it. You have been closed off from us for a week after such a calamity occurred in your life. And now you have come out, but I still find that you are flighty and distant," Starfire answered. As she spoke, tears leaked out of her eyes.

Raven stood uncomfortably.

"Really, it's okay. Don't get all bent out of shape about it. I'm fine." Maybe she could make her calm, like she did Beast Boy. But she didn't know if she could get through that strange barrier again.

Starfire tried to stem her tears and she was sniffling loudly.

Raven panicked. She didn't know how long the effects of her emotion manipulation lasted, and she didn't know if the emotion would switch to another like emotions usually did. "Um, why don't you go find Robin? I'm really fine."

"I do not mean to upset you with my display of-"

"You're not," Raven interrupted. She really wanted Starfire out of here. Not only was she uncomfortable with her crying, but the intensity of her sadness was making Raven fight to keep it from affecting her. As much as she didn't want Starfire to think that Raven was kicking her out, she needed her to leave. "I just don't know what I should do to make you feel better, and I think Robin-"

Raven paused. The sadness didn't fade at all, but she felt that rush of delirious happiness at just the mention of his name. How could Starfire feel so many emotions so intensely all at once? Raven was getting a little dizzy. She'd been used to keeping her emotions silent and now Starfire's were clawing at her, screaming for her to feel them. It almost hurt. "Starfire," Raven choked in a plea to get her to leave.

Starfire nodded and stood, exiting the room quickly. Raven sighed as the m=emotions edged away as Starfire got father and farther away from her. Raven lay her back flat against the wall and slid down until she was sitting. Maybe it was from actually manipulating emotions, or maybe it was from fighting off Starfire's, but she was suddenly so exhausted that she passed out.

When she woke up it was dark, and the sound that woke her was gentle knocking. She pushed herself up, groaning in pain. The knocking came again. "Just a minute," she called. She stood and straightened her cloak around her. She flipped the lights on with her powers and opened the door a tiny amount, enough for her face to be seen and not much else.

"Robin?" she asked.

"Yeah. Hi. Do you think I-? I mean, can I come in?" His voice was soft but business like.

Raven nodded and stepped back. He glanced around her room curiously before turning to her. "What happened in here?"

She decided to play dumb. "What do you mean?"

He raised a skeptical eyebrow at her. "Starfire came back to my room crying hysterically."

Raven closed her eyes tightly. She could feel it coming off of him like he was hitting her in the face. That feeling. It rose up from her stomach and pushed up to her mouth, bowing it into a smile. She bit her lip to keep it down. She didn't know why she was feeling it so strongly. She must be tired.

"I don't- we were talking and she just… burst into tears." It wasn't technically lying.

"That's what she told me. What were you talking about?" He didn't really sound like he was accusing her of anything. He sounded more like he had a case to crack. His voice was firm but not harsh.

"She's worried about me. You know how she is."

A rush of that feeling. Stronger this time. It made her giggle a little before she clamped her hand over her mouth. Robin didn't even smile. He ignored Raven's outburst, though, so he had to be distracted. She couldn't imagine how he could be feeling this amazing feeling and not even blink.

"Yeah, I do," he murmured. He squinted at Raven. She almost gasped as another wave of electricity rolled through her stomach. This time it was much stronger. Something changed. "Robin?" she asked, shaking her head to clear it.

Robin cleared his throat. Raven didn't realize how close they were until he stepped away from her. "I'm gonna… I'm just… I'll… talk to you later."

She smiled stupidly after him. Then she frowned. Did 'later' mean tonight? Or tomorrow? She blushed at herself. He probably just meant around. They _did_ both live in the same building. Of course he would see her later.

She sighed. She lay supine on her bed, exhausted, thinking of the way he looked at her, managing to fall asleep in spite of the butterflies flapping furiously at her stomach.

**Took me long enough, but I'm finally getting into the RobRae part! RobRae is **_**totally**_** new and unfamiliar territory for me, so let me know how I'm doing. I've got an interesting teaser for you guys this time.**

"You are familiar with the band One Direction, yes?"

Robin narrowed his eyes at her warily. "Yeah," he said slowly.

"I quite admire the blond one. And the one with the floppy hair."

The Teen Wonder let out a groan. "Come on. I said I was sor-"

"And I believe the actor Johnny Depp to be quite attractive, as well." Starfire tapped her chin thoughtfully. "And the socialite Bruce Wayne, and perhaps-"

"What?" Robin spluttered.


	5. Chapter 5

**If you don't like fluff… Maybe skip this chapter. This is the fluffiest thing I've written to date. And I write pretty fluffy stuff generally. If you like fluff a lot- you're welcome. You're gonna like this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: Teen Titans is owned by Warner Brothers and DC.**

Starfire lay prostrate on the bed, arms folded with her forehead on her wrists. She took a short nap in Robin's room after her encounter with Raven. She wasn't really expecting him to be gone when she woke up, but in his absence she was able to ponder the nature of her outburst.

She was accustomed to mood swings around the time of her moon cycle, but that couldn't be the cause of her most recent episode. Her moon cycle was last week. She was worried about Raven, but she must not have known how worried she really was until it all came crashing down on her at once. As Cyborg would say- Yeesh. Starfire stretched her arms above her head and flipped over. She curled her knees up and rested her chin on them, lacing her fingers together against the back of her knees. She had a dull headache. She couldn't decide if it was coming from behind her eyes or the back of her head, but the throbbing wasn't letting up.

The doors whooshed open and Robin entered his room. He looked almost surprised to find her there. He probably thought that she would still be asleep. She smiled at him "Greetings."

After a second of staring at her- he couldn't seem to get over his surprise- he gave her a small smile in return. "Hey. Feeling better?"

"I think I am, yes." She frowned at him. He was standing over her, fiddling with the end of his cape. "Will you sit?"

"You know that I love you, right?" he asked, completely ignoring her.

She opened her mouth to answer, but she couldn't find the words. It wasn't that it was weird to say, but he sounded so nervous. Like he really needed her to answer. "Of course," she replied after a few seconds. "I love you, as well."

He kneeled on the bed next to her and took her hand in his. "No, but, I really love you." She could only stare at him. He was getting so worked up. He was blushing a little and the pressure of his fingers over hers was a little tighter than comfortable. "I have for a while. Even back when- back when-"

Starfire pulled her fingers away from his. "What is the matter?" she demanded. His blush deepened and he didn't answer. "Robin?" Starfire prodded.

"It's nothing. Nothing." He lifted his hand and traced the curve of her cheek with his index finger, dropping down to cup her chin. "I just wanted to say it. I love you."

Starfire was alarmed. _Something _had to have happened. "I love you, too," she said softly, placing her fingers over his. She pushed his hand away gently. She pouted at him with her eyes, not bothering to ask him what was wrong again because she knew he would only tell her if he wanted to, but making it clear that she wanted to know.

"Nothing could ever change that, Star. Not ever. Okay?"

"Robin…" she murmured. She pulled him close to her, offering him a reward for being so sweet. He slid his fingers up her arms, giving her goosebumps in their wake. He rested his hands on her face, moving in closer. She allowed him to do this until they were _almost _kissing, then pulled back slightly. "I do not understand your need to remind me of your love so insistently."

Robin furrowed his brow and attempted to lean forward enough to kiss her, but she moved back again. "Please. I wish to know."

Robin released her and sighed. "I don't think you want to know."

"Of course I do. I am the girl who is your friend. I wish to know of everything that goes on in your head," she said, punctuating her statement with a kiss on his forehead.

He didn't look amused by her playfulness. "It's just that… I went to Raven's room before, to see if she would tell me what specifically got you upset."

Starfire deflated a little. "You did ? I asked you not to do that. She did not say the hurtful words or the-"

"I know, but I wanted to check it out. And while I was in there, I had the strongest urge to… to…" he sighed in frustration. "I really don't think it's necessary to tell you this.

Starfire looked upset. "You do not have trust in me?"

He stayed silent a moment. "Fine. I… I almost kissed her, alright?"

Starfire didn't say anything. She didn't move. She hardly breathed. She couldn't act upset now, not after she'd made him tell her. The only reaction she could come up with was to remind him of the myriad reasons he had not to kiss Raven so that he would continue kissing her exclusively.

"Starfire?" Robin asked nervously. "I- I didn't. I wouldn't."

She grabbed him by the collar and pushed him back onto the bed roughly. He made a startled noise, which she cut off with a searing kiss. At first he was too surprised to respond, but he tangled his hands in her hair and slid them down her back until he was holding her around the waist.

They broke for air, and Robin turned them so that they both lay on their sides. "So, you're not mad at me?"

Starfire paused, considering. "No. I am thankful that you told me, and you seem regretful, and it is not like you really kissed her. Although, if you had…" Starfire held out her hand and it glowed bright green, the energy swirling around her blowing her hair back slightly.

Robin gulped. "That won't be necessary," he assured her.

"Good," she purred happily. Her starbolt fizzled out and Robin reached for her. She rolled away from him so that she was on her back. "I am still insulted, however. I believe I shall find appeasement in punishment."

Robin looked at her unsurely. "Punishment?" An innuendo was on the tip of his tongue, but he had a feeling that she wasn't thinking what he was thinking.

"Yes. We shall be refraining from lip contact for the remainder of the evening," she informed him.

Robin raised an eyebrow at her. It wasn't like that was what he _wanted _to hear, but it was nothing he couldn't handle. It was already seven o'clock, anyway.

She frowned at him. "I see that you do not think this is sufficient punishment. Perhaps you are right. I suppose that I shall have to do the getting even."

"How are you going to do that? It's not like I actually kissed-"

Starfire smiled sweetly at him. "You _imagined_ kissing Raven." Starfire folded her hands on her stomach and smiled dreamily. "I am guilty of this, too. You are familiar with the band One Direction, yes?"

Robin narrowed his eyes at her warily. "Yeah," he said slowly.

"I quite admire the blond one. And the one with the floppy hair."

The Teen Wonder let out a groan. "Come on. I said I was sor-"

"And I believe the actor Johnny Depp to be quite attractive, as well." Starfire tapped her chin thoughtfully. "And the socialite Bruce Wayne, and perhaps-"

"What?" Robin spluttered.

Starfire looked pleased with herself. "Okay. Now we are the even once more."

Robin shook his head at her. "No. No, we are _not_ even."

Starfire frowned at him. "Of course we are. You see the logic in this. You fantasized about kissing Raven, and I have merely told you about people who, on occasion, I have fantasized -"

"Please," Robin begged, "_please_, don't finish that sentence."

Starfire looked upset. She didn't mean to cause this much emotional harm to her boyfriend, even if she was a little bit upset. "I do not see how that is worse! At least they are not people you know personally and live with," she defended herself.

Robin pressed his hand to his forehead. He could only give a weak, ironic laugh. He looked up at her and took her hands in his. "Look, I'm sorry. It won't happen again. Now, please don't mention… any of those people again."

Her face fell. "Not even Niall?"

Robin rolled his eyes, not that she could see. He yawned and stretched his shoulders, suddenly realizing how very tired he was. That was weird. It wasn't even like he stayed up very late last night. He stretched out on top of his covers. "Star, you're welcome to stay, but I think I'm gonna crash."

Her eyebrows furrowed. He would have thought it was because of the colloquialism, but he knew that she'd heard it enough times that she knew what it meant. She pressed the back of her hand against his forehead. "It is hardly past the cock of seven! Please, you are feeling well?"

He took her hand gently. "Yeah, yeah, 'course. I'm just a little tired is all." He gave her a playful smile and tightened his grip on her fingers. He pulled her closer to the mattress, knocking her off balance until she was leaning over him, her hair tickling his face. He rested his fingers at the nape of her neck as she leaned closer to him.

To his disappointment, she stopped a few centimeters away from a kiss. "Have you forgotten," she asked, her voice low in her throat, "that I have forbidden the prolonged lip contact?" Her breath on his neck made him shiver.

He raised an eyebrow at her in dismay. It took his brain a couple of seconds to catch up with his mouth, but he eventually groaned, "You were serious about that?"

Starfire sat up, letting her fingers drag against his chest. "I do not lie, Robin." She wore a satisfied smile.

He propped himself up on his elbow, sliding his fingers down to the small of her back. "Not even just this once?"

She looked up, pretending to consider. "Mmmmm…" she mumbled thoughtfully. She leaned close to him again, to peck him on the cheek. She pulled back and hopped off the bed. "I have deliberated and my final decision is… no. I shall see you tomorrow," she said brightly as he frowned at her.

She walked back to her room, feeling a strange mixture of relief and worry. Robin had assured her that it wouldn't happen again, and the fact that he even told her about what he was feeling seemed to lead her to think that he was sincere in this regard. But she wished it didn't happen at all. Raven must not have known that he was feeling this way. Starfire trusted the empath. Being the girls on the team, they bonded in a way that they just couldn't with the boys. Maybe in the morning she would try talking about this whole thing with Raven.

Starfire stepped into her room, happy to find Silkie resting at the foot of her bed. She changed into pajamas- an oversized One Direction concert T-shirt and black sweatpants- and scratched the larva on the head as he made happy rumbling noises. She was still a little tired from earlier- her nap didn't quite cut it. She rested her head on her pillows with Silkie cuddled against her chest.

She jerked into a sitting position. According to the clock on her bedside table, it was 12:05. She struggled to find the correct meaning of the numbers. On Tamaran, this would be the middle of early afternoon. On Earth, the time had two meanings- a most confusing concept that still tripped her up. It was dark, so it must be night. She wasn't sure exactly what startled her out of her slumber. She strained her ears, but she couldn't hear any unusual sounds coming from her open window. She turned toward it, contemplating getting up to close it, since a draft might have stirred her… but she was so comfortable.

She was alerted to something behind her. There was no noise, but something about the air changed. Her heart beat in her throat and as she turned quickly, she charged a starbolt in her hand, rearing her wrist over her head and behind her ear to throw it quickly-

"X'hal!" she shouted. "Robin!"

He was standing in front of her, arms crossed at his chest, looking smug. For some reason, the sight of him like that in the glow of her starbolt gave her goosebumps. She shivered. Her breath was coming fast and shaking badly. "You frightened me! I did not hear you come in!"

This only seemed to pull his smile up higher on one side, making him look even more smug. He mumbled something about Bruce Wayne and Batman… not that she saw what one had to do with the other.

"What are you doing here at this hour?" she demanded.

Still looking quite pleased with himself, he kneeled in front of her on her bed. "You said no more kissing for the rest of the night," he murmured, just the sound of his voice making her shiver again.

She stared up at him in confusion, her emerald eyes wide, still holding a little of the wild fear that flooded her system seconds ago. "I do not see how that is relevant to your startling and untimely appearance in my quarters!"

"Night's over," he murmured, leaning over her.

Starfire propped herself up on her elbows. She looked at him for a moment, calculating. The look he was giving her distracted her, so she looked to the side and shut one eye so that she couldn't see him peripherally. That's right. The Earth clock started again at twelve, midnight. Starfire couldn't imagine why. Tamaranean mornings started almost as soon as it was light, at least in summer, and they started at the number one. She looked back up at Robin. The expression he wore was one of unbridled fondness, and it made warmth kick up in her stomach.

She sat up fully, aware of the small space between them and closing it as she wrapped her warms around his neck, leaning her hand with the lit starbolt on his shoulder. "I believe that you are correct."

"So, Your Highness, warrior princess of Tamaran… do I have your permission?" he asked, his breath tickling her neck.

It took all of her concentration not to melt into a puddle. She shook her hair away from her eyes and tilted her chin up. "Hmmm… I suppose so."

Robin kissed her gently, which surprised Starfire, considering how theatrical he was being about it. She sighed against his mouth, putting her weight toward her shoulders. He let her lean back until she was leaning against the pillows again. Robin pulled back slightly and raised an eyebrow.

"Um, Star? What're you wearing?" He pulled at her sleeve with his first two fingers.

Starfire glanced down and shot him a confused look. She glanced down at her shirt, green in the glow of her own light. "It is… my pajamas. That is customary, yes?"

Robin eyed the shirt, ten eyes staring back at him. "I don't… I don't think I can kiss you with five other guys staring at me," he mumbled.

Starfire looked down at her shirt, bringing her lit starbolt closer to it for her own inspection, leaving one arm thrown around Robin's neck for support. She blushed. "Oh."

Robin winced. "I didn't mean for you to take it off- I just meant- the-" he stuttered, his cheeks turning a violent crimson.

Starfire smiled at him, finding his awkwardness cute. "May I offer an alternate solution?" she asked.

Robin raised his eyebrow at her, but nodded.

She let the energy from her starbolt fade back into her fingers. The night was dark, and while she could still see basic outlines, the details of everything blurred. Satisfied, she put her other arm back around Robin's neck. "Is that preferable?" she asked against his chest.

"Yeah, it's better," he said, cupping her cheek with one hand. He pressed her against the mattress, kissing her hard and slow. The rhythm of it almost made her dizzy. They broke for breath, and she rolled forcefully until he was beneath her, taking him by surprise. He gripped her hips with his fingers, pulling her close. She raked her fingers through his hair and opened her mouth against his-

She recoiled with a shout, propelling herself onto her knees. Robin shot up after her. "What's the matter?"

She pressed her palm against her forehead, which felt like it was about to split open. Tears stung at her eyes. "X'hal… my head."

Robin smoothed her hair away from her face and gently pressed her back against the pillows. "You have a headache? Just like that?"

She clenched her eyes shut, attempting to keep the pressure in her head at bay. "Yes. I am not prone to chronic headaches, and I was fine just a minute ago…"

She jumped as she felt Robin brush her lips with his. She tried to push him away weakly. Couldn't he see that she was dying over here? He pressed against her, insistent. She tried to turn her head to the side, which caused pain to spike across her temples. "Mmf- Robin-" she choked, pushing him with both hands. He twisted his fingers in her hair.

Angry now, she opened her eyes, which were illuminated bright green. She pushed him forcefully, using her powers to tap into her greater strength.

Robin gasped and let go of her just before she pushed him, causing him to tumble off the bed. She would have checked on him to make she he didn't hurt himself, but her head was hurting her even more now that she had to use her powers.

Robin scrambled back onto the bed. "Shit. Star, I don't know what happened. I didn't mean to do that." He sounded rattled.

She hardly noticed. She was trying to ride out the waves of concentrated pain. She was almost shaking with effort.

He gaped at her. "Um, is this, like, an alien thing?"

"No," she answered through gritted teeth, "this is not-" she was cut off by her own strain.

"Is there anything I can-?"

"Not- Not normal," Starfire continued.

Robin looked on helplessly. He had no idea how he could offer any help.

Starfire opened her eyes, unseeing, and Robin ducked as they glowed green and she let loose eyebeams that charred the wall across from her. He turned and stared at the mark on the wall, the fact that his head was there a few seconds ago hard to ignore. He looked down at Starfire. She seemed to have quieted. She was fighting to keep her breathing steady.

"Are you okay now?" he asked cautiously, like his speaking might trigger the bizarre headache again.

Her eyes fluttered opened slowly. "I do not think that was a normal headache."

"What do you mean? Like, you had a migraine?"

Starfire shook her head, which didn't seem to be bothering her much, if at all now.

"I mean that the source of the headache was not normal," she answered. "Why did you do that?" she demanded, sitting up.

"Do wha-? Oh. Kiss you again. I don't know. I didn't think about it." He scratched at the nape of his neck nervously.

"I wanted you to stop," she reminded him, narrowing her eyes at him.

"I- I didn't hear you," he mumbled.

She furrowed her brow. "I pushed you away."

"I didn't feel it," he answered, looking concerned.

"You grabbed me!"

He gaped at her. "I didn't! I mean, I guess I did, but I didn't _know_ it."

Starfire sighed. "Please leave."

He stared at her. "What?"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Have you got virishna in your ears?"

"No. Wait. You're mad at me," Robin said quickly.

She didn't answer.

"Star. I didn't even know what I was doing. It was like I was on autopilot. I couldn't stop it. Don't be mad."

Starfire sighed. She leaned forward and kissed him chastely to reassure him. "I am not angry. I have just had a most strange aching of the head, and I am very tired. I wish to sleep."

He looked down at his hands. "You know, I don't have to leave."

She looked up at him. "Robin," she said gently. "I love you. But I think that this is not a good night to do the taking of our relationship to the 'next level'. My head is very sore, and you have not even put on pajamas."

Robin glanced down at himself. "Yeah, okay. You're right. So in conclusion… you're _not_ mad at me." He looked up to her for confirmation and she nodded. "We love each other," he continued, "and we're sleeping in my bed tomorrow."

Starfire allowed herself a small smile. "Yes."

He smiled back at her. Then he frowned suddenly. "Please wear a different shirt."

She smiled even wider. Robin kissed her quickly. "Okay. I'm going. Good night. I love you."

"I love you, too," she reciprocated through a yawn. She fell asleep shortly after he left, in spite of the fact that not twenty minutes ago, adrenaline was pumping crazily through her veins and that she had already taken a nap that day.

**This chapter was actually pretty hard to write. I'm sorry about putting One Direction and Johnny Depp in this chapter… I usually don't like it when pop-culture is referenced in fics, but I wanted something to lead up to the Bruce Wayne comment. =p Plus, at that point I had some major writer's block. The first part, up until Starfire held up her starbolt the first time and threatened him, came out really easy, but the rest of this chapter was a big struggle. Sorry if you didn't like it. Things should start really picking up next chapter. Good things come to those who wait?**

Suddenly she felt like she wasn't in control of her powers… her powers were in control of her. At any other time in her life, this would have made her blood freeze, and her stomach clench fearfully, and maybe she would have even cried. But now, she was strangely apathetic. She just wanted to appease the ache she felt for a genuine feeling.

Robin turned to her, and he looked surprised. Almost like he just noticed she was there.

She felt something inside him stir, and she got even more excited. He was getting that fuzzy feeling, and the fact that she knew that _she_ was making him feel like that made her even more fuzzy. Her blood sloshed noisily in her ears and she could feel her pulse in her temples and her hands were getting stupidly sweaty…

Robin leaned forward a little. He was moving very slowly, like he was in a trance. Or maybe he was moving at a regular speed and her brain was moving so much slower than her heart was pumping that it just looked like he was moving slowly.

She closed her eyes and leaned forward, too.


	6. Chapter 6

**Okay. I did a stupid. A really big stupid. I kind of didnn't upload this chapter. And all the reviews will have shifted and it was stupid... whoops. I'll make up for it by uploading the next chapter. Again. Oops.  
**

**Disclaimer: Teen Titans is owned by Warner Brothers and DC.**

Raven sat in bed, shaking. She'd been sleeping. Everything was fine. And then she was jarred awake violently, like someone shook her.

That spike of feeling. Goosebumps crawled up her arms and a smile tugged at her mouth. Raven rolled onto her stomach, fully awake now. She closed her eyes as waves of happiness, cresting into desire and diminishing into content, rocked through her.

It was Robin. It had to be. But what was he _doing? _Raven blushed. He was probably with Starfire. She should be happy for her. Starfire and Robin deserved each other. They'd had something special going on between them ever since-

Screw it. Why should Starfire get all of that? It wasn't _fair._ Raven hadn't been able to feel before. If she had, things might have turned out differently. Robin would be with her now, making her feel that intense combination of happiness and just feeling wanted.

It could be so different. She let herself imagine it for just a minute- Robin sitting on her bed, Robin's hand on hers, Robin's _mouth_ on hers…

Raven gasped. It was happening. She was reaching out. Her emotions were so feverish, she couldn't rein it in. She gritted her teeth, her fingers grabbing the comforter. She couldn't stop it. It was reaching out. Raven let out a small cry. That weird resistance that she met from Starfire was building up against her. Maybe she would be able to stop it.

After a few seconds of struggling, it went away. Raven panted and wiped her brow, which was damp at her hairline.

She was too tired even to read any lingering emotions, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something had happened. She had to meditate. She had to…

Her eyes drooped. She shook her head to clear it, but it didn't help much. Had to meditate… check things out… control…

She pushed through the surface to wakefulness. She blinked at the light, furrowing her brow. She could have sworn that she was on top of the covers last night when she went to sleep.

She shrugged. She pushed herself into a sitting position, her feet touching the ground. Man, she was in a _good_ mood. Maybe practicing her new powers on Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy was better for her than she thought, even if it seemed to make her tired right after using them.

She levitated down the hall to the bathroom, white clothes in hand, humming to herself. She showered, taking her time. When she emerged, Starfire was standing against the wall. Raven smiled at her, but the usually chipper alien seemed somewhat flatlined.

"Greeting, Raven," Starfire offered noncommittally.

"Hi, Star. Did I keep you waiting?" Raven asked, stepping away from the door so the redhead could gain access to the bathroom.

Raven felt a wave of annoyance that almost made her wince- but it was quickly covered by guilt. "While you did take longer than usual, it is not the big deal."

"Everything all right?" the empath asked as her friend walked toward the door.

Starfire paused. Raven felt doubt, and she tried to push it back. She didn't want to invade her friend's personal space. Although, with Starfire, you could usually tell what she was thinking, anyway. "Everything is fine, thank you for asking," she answered with a too-big smile.

Raven frowned worriedly. It wasn't like Starfire to be so reclusive when it came to her emotions. But she didn't push the issue. If this was anything like usual, Starfire would talk to her about it in a few hours, anyway.

In the kitchen, everything was normal. Cyborg and Beast Boy were having their daily tofu vs. meat argument, Robin was sitting at the table, looking slightly exasperated as he chewed on ham and eggs and held a newspaper in one hand.

Raven grabbed a packet of tea and the kettle and poured herself some. She sidled up next to Robin at the table, adrenaline kicking in her stomach. "Good morning," she said, trying not to blush just at the proximity.

He lifted an eyebrow at her. "Someone's in a good mood. Morning."

Another swoop of warm tingles overcame her stomach. Just that fact that he'd noticed something about her made her feel good. An embarrassing smile crept onto her face.

Robin smiled at her and put his paper down, giving her his full attention. "It's nice to see you smile. It suits you."

Raven smiled even bigger and took a gulp of tea to save herself from having to answer. God, what was with her? She shouldn't be doing this. Robin was with Starfire…

Unfortunately, knowing that didn't seem to make her able to stop getting inappropriately excited and fuzzy inside when she was around him.

Robin was looking at her. Raven tried her best to look at her cup, but she couldn't help it. She glanced up at him and they just looked at each other for a second. Robin seemed sort of confused, and she wondered if maybe he asked her something and she didn't hear him.

"Uh… dude?" Beast Boy asked, knocking on the table between them. "Hellllooooo?"

Robin snapped his head over to Beast Boy. "What?" he asked, kind of annoyed.

"After arguing with me for like, ten minutes, Cyborg realized that we're all out of bacon." Beast Boy paused to shoot Cyborg a smug look, arms crossed over his chest. "I said you'd be willing to eat tofu, but he wants to go to the store. But it's, like, ten thirty already, and I don't wanna wait for him to go to the store to bring back breakfast for the rest of you. I'm hungry! So, what's it gonna be?"

Robin glared at the youngest Titan. "I'm already eating," Robin pointed out crossly, shoving his plate a little bit closer to Beast Boy, which made him recoil.

"Yeah, that's rude, dude. You're _supposed_ to wait until everybody's ready. Didn't Batman ever teach you any manners?"

Robin scowled at Beast Boy, but Raven could sense a kind of dry humor emanating from their leader.

Beast Boy backed away from the table, hands raised with his palms facing Robin. "Okay, jeez. Guess not. So what's it gonna be, Rae?"

Raven, who was still absorbed and overly interested in Robin's mix of emotions, just said, "Uh huh."

Beast boy whirled toward his cybernetic friend victoriously. "Yes! Sit your butt down, tin can, I'm cooking breakfast!"

Cyborg shot Raven a look like a kicked puppy. "But… but… but what if Star doesn't want that junk?"

"Star likes tofu," Robin interjected absently.

Raven turned away from him. She was so confused. Robin seemed to be particularly interested in her this morning, but just the mention of Starfire brought a warm surge of fondness rising through him- and subsequently, through her. She pushed it down, a little annoyed. She'd always thought Robin was bad at vocalizing his emotions, but now she could sense them very clearly, and it wasn't helping at all. Maybe he was just bad at sorting out his own emotions. It wasn't his fault, but it was really annoying.

"Maybe I'll go out anyway…" Cyborg muttered unsurely.

"What? No! Don't hold up breakfast! You're the only one who has such a huge problem with my tofu!"

"We are all doing the consuming of the tofu? Glorious!" Starfire shouted.

And Robin's attention was completely on her. Raven frowned and took a long swig of herbal tea.

"Uh-uh. I ain't eatin' _none_ of that garbage," Cyborg insisted.

"But I thought we were ingesting the tofu?" Starfire asked, confused.

"_I'm_ not! I'll just have eggs…"

"Let me at least make you some! Don't knock it 'til you try it! It's tofu-licious…" the shape shifter added in an effort to make it more appealing, but this just made Cyborg grimace and recoil.

Starfire took a seat next to Robin, who took her hand under the table.

Raven blushed as dismay settled in her stomach. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to force it back. What good was it to be able to make other people feel things if you couldn't change how you felt yourself?"

Cyborg grimaced when Beast Boy pushed a wobbling cube of tofu in front of him. Starfire took a spoon and shoveled the food into her mouth. She smiled and licked her lips, then ate at a much daintier pace. Raven ate some and swirled the rest around her plate, not really very interested in the food. She thought it was kind of tasteless, but, in her current state (confused and kind of depressed), she thought that most foods might taste that way. Beast Boy spent the meal watching the four Titans who had to eat his cooking, smiling proudly.

After breakfast, the Titans split up. Beast Boy and cyborg went down to the garage- Cyborg had finally conceded to thinking about possible plans for a 'B-ped'- leaving just Raven, Robin, and Starfire in the ops room. Raven picked up a random book- a collection of works by Ezra Pound, which was actually really good literature, but she wasn't in the mood- and flipped to a page somewhere in the middle.

Robin and Starfire sat on the couch and put on TV. It was Clash of the Planets, and Starfire liked watching it to point out things there were wildly untrue or things that were surprisingly accurate. Robin generally didn't watch it. He wasn't really into sci-fi stuff, for a kid that spent a decent amount of time on the JLA satellite _in space_, but he watched it with Starfire sometimes even before they started dating.

Neither seemed to be watching it right now, though. Starfire was leaning on Robin's shoulder and he had his arm draped over her shoulders. If Raven still had her powers restricted by emotion, things would be blowing up. She felt her stomach clench. She felt restricted, and she wanted to leave them, but she couldn't. They were whispering o each other, and Raven couldn't quite make out what they were saying. They could have been talking about the TV show, but she was making herself even more upset thinking about what they were saying.

She let her forehead rest on the dry and somehow comforting coolness of the thin paper pages of her book. There wasn't any denying it. She definitely had a crush on Robin. Her stomach flipped upside down at the admission. How could this have happened? He _did_ save her. She he cared about her… but he cared about all the Titans. She never thought it was anything more than that.

They had a bond- she'd been in his head. But she had to admit, it wasn't like that actually meant anything. She'd seen images and scenes, but nothing to really grasp a better understanding of their leader than any of the other Titans. Sure, she'd seen a circus, and from that she was able to conclude that he grew up around one, but that wasn't surprising. She probably could have figured it out on her own, if she'd bothered to take the time. It was really the only thing that made much sense. Talent like his had to be learned at a young age and kept up for a while.

But he'd never explained any of the images she'd seen to her.

Starfire's communicator beeped suddenly. She sat up quickly and opened it, Robin looking at her curiously. She opened it and let out a squeal of delight. "It is Galfore!" Robin nodded in understanding and she hopped into the air, chattering in Tamaranean as she headed for the door.

So now it was just the two of them. Raven snapped shut her book and timidly sat down next to him. She cleared her throat. "You and Galfore aren't friends?" she asked quietly. Maybe Galfore didn't like Robin. Maybe there was a problem. God. Raven was feeling like a horrible friend. But she couldn't help it. She just wanted to know. She wouldn't do anything…

Robin shook his head. "Nothing like that. Just that we talked about it already, and Starfire doesn't want to get Galfore involved in our relationship." He blushed a little. Raven found it cute. "Not yet. We've only been dating for a few days."

He lapsed into a thoughtful silence, and Raven wasn't sure what he was thinking about, but it gave her a warm feeling. Kind of like when you drink hot chocolate on a really cold day and you can feel it trickle around your stomach, warming you up from the inside. She closed her eyes, trying to keep it away, but suddenly she felt like she wasn't in control of her powers… her powers were in control of her. At any other time in her life, this would have made her blood freeze, and her stomach clench fearfully, and maybe she would have even cried. But now, she was strangely apathetic. She just wanted to appease the ache she felt for a genuine feeling.

Robin turned to her, and he looked surprised. Almost like he just noticed she was there.

She felt something inside him stir, and she got even more excited. He was getting that fuzzy feeling, and the fact that she knew that _she_ was making him feel like that made her even more fuzzy. Her blood sloshed noisily in her ears and she could feel her pulse in her temples and her hands were getting stupidly sweaty…

Robin leaned forward a little. He was moving very slowly, like he was in a trance. Or maybe he was moving at a regular speed and her brain was moving so much slower than her heart was pumping that it just looked like he was moving slowly.

She closed her eyes and leaned forward, too, until their lips touched. She froze. She was kissing Robin. Well, actually, she was just holding her lips over his and not doing anything. Oh God, she had no idea how to kiss. Panic flooded through her.

Then Robin started moving his lips against hers. Each movement sent sparks through her lips, and they sunk like snow from where their lips touched to deeper places in her body, where her blood picked them up and they were swept through the rest of her body to make her feel dizzy and fuzzy. All she could concentrate on was her mouth.

Robin started pulling back, and she opened her eyes and he looked like he was about to say something. Or maybe he was in the middle of saying something and she couldn't hear him because her blood was rushing in her ears too loudly. Either way, she didn't want to talk. She wanted more. She _needed _more.

She scrambled so that she was kneeling on the cushion in front of him and she lunged at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her chest against his and kissing him, moving her lips like he did before.

He didn't put his arms around her. He was bracing himself on one of his palms, and his other hand was gripping the ledge of the couch just so that it was grabbing something. He didn't pull away, but she still wanted _more._ She was desperate for more contact. She needed it. She needed him.

She didn't know if he could tell in her action or if he felt the same way, but he moved his hand that he was using to brace himself to her knee and swept his fingertips over her kneecaps almost hesitantly. She made a sound and a dizzying surge of heat rushed up to her head from where he touched her and suddenly, he was skimming his hands up her sides, over her elbows and up her shoulders and resting them at the nape of her neck where her hair touched down in the back. She felt like she was dreaming. It was the perfect first kiss. His emotions were fueling her into deliria.

She pulled back for air and, too quickly, his hands dropped away from her completely. She panted a little.

"Woah."

Raven snapped her head up to look at him. She was getting so many different emotions from Robin, and they were whirling so quickly that she could only pick them one at a time and they were fleeting. She got happiness, excitement, guilt, confusion, adrenaline, and dread, which cut through her like a knife. "R-Robin?" she asked, sounding scared.

He shook his head, eyes wide. "I can't believe that just happened."

Raven smiled reflexively. "Me neither," she breathed.

He gaped at her and shook his head. "No, I mean… That shouldn't have happened. Raven… I have… We're… Oh God, Starfire," he groaned.

Raven felt her heart break a little, and she wasn't sure if it was because that was what Robin was feeling or if it was what she felt herself.

"I cannot believe I just did that. I'm such an asshole." He pressed the heel of his hand into his forehead above the bridge of his nose.

She almost felt like crying. He was rejecting her in favor of Starfire. Perky, pretty, sunshiney Starfire. Raven bit her lip to keep it from trembling.

"What am I gonna tell her?"

Raven gulped to calm herself. "You don't have to tell her anything," she pointed out quietly.

Robin just gaped at her again. "Of course I have to tell her. She's my _girlfriend._"

She was torn between pointing out that he was already doing a pretty bad job of treating her as such and a feeling of admiration, which made her stomach flutter and her lips tingle and… she shook her head to clear it. She had to focus. "I'm sorry," she choked out. She hated herself for doing it. She most definitely was not sorry. She was happy. She'd do it again, and she wanted to do it again _right now_.

Robin ran a hand through his hair nervously. He looked at Raven, who must have looked really pathetic because his expression softened and he paused in his freak out and he very gently said, "It's not your fault." Raven had to squeeze her eyes shut and clench her jaw just to keep herself from giving in to the rush of joy and the smile tugging at her cheeks. If it wasn't her fault then he must have _wanted_ to kiss her. That couldn't be their last kiss. She wouldn't let it be.

"Raven… I have to go talk to Starfire. I need to…"

Raven could feel the dread, intensified from before. He was panicking, and strangely, he felt somehow heartbroken. It wasn't the strongest emotion she was sensing, but it was there. But she didn't understand how he could be heartbroken when he was the one who hurt Starfire. And, strongest of all the emotions, was desperation.

He sprang off the couch and rushed toward the door, and she let him go. She didn't want to look up. She knew that all she would see was the boy she loved running off to the girl he loved. She felt her heart crack in two and sink to the bottom of her chest.

**Okay, so this chapter is a little shorter than the last one. But… I think it's better? I cranked this out in one sitting, because I am still battling writer's block like the warrior that I am and I was afraid that if I stopped I would mess up the flow and get blocked again. But I did it! How was it for a first attempt at RobRae? I know Robin still seems hesitant, but don't worry about that too much.**

Every muscle in his body was tensed up. He had the urge to run from the room. He'd been trained by the God damn Batman for the last six years of his life- he could probably be out of the room in a matter of seconds without leaving any trace as to where he'd gone.

He could go hide out in Gotham until things blew over. Or he could go to a Titans' base. He'd been working on setting up a few around the globe- there was a nice one in South America…


	7. Chapter 7

**Oh, gosh, guys. I'm going to need moral support in the reviews. I hope you like this chapter… or something. Just read it.**

**Disclaimer: Teen Titans is owned by Warner Brothers and DC.**

Starfire flipped her communicator closed. Galfore was just checking up on her. She was always glad to hear from him, but this time she was a little uneasy. Her k'norfka probably knew that she wanted to pursue a relationship with Robin even though she'd never told him, and she decided not to mention it just yet. Galfore was in the middle of dealing with a small uprising of people who supported Blackfire, and she didn't want the news of her new relationship to be tainted by that. So she was mostly evasive when Galfore asked about her friends.

She was kneeling on her bed and looking out the window, thinking that she shouldn't feel guilty because it wasn't like she _lied_ when her doors whooshed open, interrupting her train of thought. She glanced over her shoulder. Robin was standing sheepishly in the hallway.

"Galfore is doing well. He was just informing me of the political affairs in-" she paused. Robin was still standing outside her door instead of coming in and sitting next to her the way they'd been doing when they went in each other's rooms for the past week. "Why do you not enter?"

Robin looked guilty and shuffled inside her room. "Right. Sorry."

Starfire tilted her head at him. "You seem overwrought. Do you wish to make a visit to the investigation room?"

"Um, no. I just… I wanted to see you," he answered.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, concern tingeing her voice. She floated in the air and landed in front of him. She put her hand on his shoulder in a gesture of kindness.

Behind his mask, Robin shut his eyes. He pressed his right hand over hers on his left shoulder. In case everything went as wrong as it could go, he wanted to remember this last moment of peace between them. She leaned into him and raised her hand to his cheek before kissing him softly.

Robin instinctively slid his hands around her waist and laced his fingers together at the small of her back. Just as she was about to deepen the kiss, Robin jerked back, ducking under her hands at his neck.

She looked somewhat hurt, and the knife that went through him when he saw her expression told him that this was going to _suck_.

"Have I done something to anger you?" she asked worriedly.

"No!" he assured her quickly. He stepped back from her. He _so_ didn't want to do this. He wanted to go back to kissing her. He wanted, somehow, to protect her from what he was about to do. Damn it, why wasn't he thinking about this when he thought it would be a good idea to kiss Raven?

She was waiting patiently for him to explain.

He cleared his throat. "Do you remember what I told you yesterday?"

She cocked her head at him adorably. "Not to wear a One Direction shirt to bed any longer?"

He almost smiled. He would have laughed under any other circumstances. The fact that that was the first thing she thought of sent a feeling of fondness rushing through him. He remembered what he needed to do and it constricted around his chest painfully. How was he going to do this?

"No. The other thing." And then, because he didn't think he could handle it if she took another incorrect guess, he added, "About… um, about wanting to kiss Raven."

Her face clouded. She nodded once.

He tried to elaborate, but all that came out of his mouth were odd gurgling noises.

Her face took on an adorably confused and concerned look, before becoming slightly stony, and then giving way to dismay. She shook her head. "Robin, you didn't…"

Every muscle in his body was tensed up. He had the urge to run from the room. He'd been trained by the God damn Batman for the last six years of his life- he could probably be out of the room in a matter of seconds without leaving any trace as to where he'd gone.

He could go hide out in Gotham until things blew over. Or he could go to a Titans' base. He'd been working on setting up a few around the globe- there was a nice one in South America…

"Please tell me that you did not engage in lip contact with Raven," Starfire whispered.

"I didn't…. I didn't mean to," he answered, straining his voice to keep from gurgling again.

Starfire didn't shout at him, she didn't fire up a starbolt, she didn't burst into tears. She just stared at him blankly.

He shifted uncomfortably under her gaze. He noticed that at some point, she started to look through him rather than at him. "Star?" he called timidly. "Starfire?" He took a step toward her, peering at her.

Her knees buckled and he caught her by the shoulders, her forehead pressed against his chest. He tried to help her up again, but she wasn't cooperating. He sunk to a crouch and sat her down between his knees, pushing her head down to keep her from fainting, because she looked like she might.

After a few moments she shrugged him away and she cradled her face in her hands. He stood up and looked down at her. "Starfire?" he called again.

"How could you do that?" she demanded, her voice coming out in a whisper.

He raked a hand through his hair. "I don't- I mean I wasn't-"

"Do you love her?" She was still whispering, and this time her voice shook.

Robin crouched in front of her and took her wrists in his hands, uncovering her face. Tears were welling in her eyes, but she wasn't crying. Yet. "Of course not. I love you," he told her softly.

She blinked the unshed tears away and swallowed. She jerked her wrists away from him. "How dare you say that to me." She wasn't whispering anymore. Her voice shook, except this time she sounded really angry instead of crushed like she did before.

"Starfire," Robin whispered. His mouth was suddenly dry. He cleared his throat and continued, his voice slightly stronger this time. "I do. Honest."

She narrowed her eyes at him and gritted her teeth. Her voice came out calm and collected, but without her usual cheer. "I was raised to understand politics. The treasonous man does not love his province."

Robin gaped at her. He couldn't think of anything to say. "It was a mistake."

"A mistake against the girl you claim you love for one you claim you do not," she pointed out. "I do not think that love means quite the same on Earth as it does on Tamaran."

Her cool voice cut into him like a blade. It was a thinly veiled jab at him. "No, I think it does. Just… I messed up."

"Indeed, you have." She crossed her arms and looked at him with one eyebrow raised.

"Star. Come on. I've screwed up before. You've always been there to help me get back on top of things. I need your help again."

She turned from him and dropped her head. "I cannot offer you help this time. You have not done the screwing up this badly ever before, Robin."

The raw emotion in her voice made his blood freeze. He wanted to drop onto his knees and beg for her to forgive him, if nothing else because it would make her feel better. He might have done it if they weren't already sitting on the ground. "It wasn't like I wanted to kiss her, I-"

"You were forced, then?" she demanded skeptically.

"Uh, no, but-"

"You got enjoyment from the transaction, did you not?"

"Uh, yeah, but-"

She stood suddenly. "Then I do not understand! You wish me to forgive you for an act you committed willingly _and_ with enjoyment!"

"Yeah, but… I'm sorry about it."

Starfire stared down at him incredulously. "That is not enough."

Robin gulped. He stood to face her slowly. Yep, this was definitely going as badly as it could. "Tell me what I need to do to make it better."

She shook her head. "Even if there was something that could be done to rectify your action, my telling you would diminish its worth."

That's when he started panicking. "There has to be something."

"So now you believe that I am telling lies?" she demanded.

Robin winced. "Of course not. But maybe I can do something you didn't think of." He paused. "I'll kick Raven off the team," he offered wildly.

Starfire stared at him like he'd grown a second head. "You would not. And it would not solve anything. You are being hysterical, Robin."

She wasn't entirely wrong about that, but it was only because she was being so oddly calm. Starfire, who cried the last time Cyborg squashed a spider in front of her, was suddenly an ice queen. It was making him nervous.

"I love you, Star. I don't want to lose you."

She looked at him sadly. But it was the wrong kind of sad. She looked sad for him. Sad that he was getting so upset. "Maybe you should have thought about that before you acted."

"Starfire, no," Robin begged desperately. "I'm sorry."

Starfire closed her eyes. "I know."

"You can't be so heartless. There has to be-"

She whirled on him, eyes aglow. "Heartless? You think that I am being heartless? I trusted you, Robin. From the very beginning, I trusted you. I have always stood by you. I have given you everything and it means so little to you that you break social convention by engaging in lip contact with other girls." She stayed strong the entire she made her speech, her words coming out evenly and with a calculated coldness.

Robin just stared at her. He couldn't talk to her while she was like this. Then, slowly, the glow in her eyes flickered out and was replaced by the shine of tears.

"Leave," she squeaked out. "Please. I do not wish for you to see me… this way."

Instead of doing what he was told, he took her wrist and pulled her to him gently, stroking her hair as she clutched the front of his shirt and cried on it. He felt a lump forming in his throat and he swallowed it down, comforting himself by rubbing his cheek on the crown of her head. "It's okay, Star," he muttered against her hair after some time- he wasn't sure how much- had passed.

She pushed him away. "Lies! It is not okay, and I fear that it will not be okay again for a very long time!"

Her eyes and nose were pink from crying and her voice sounded waterlogged. She still wasn't going to forgive him. He had to make her understand. He couldn't believe that she was doing this. Starfire lived and breathed emotions. She had to be able to see his. In a last ditch attempt, he grabbed her arms just above the elbow and pulled her to him. She was giving him a weak glare, but he ignored it. He pressed his mouth against hers gently, and for a second she went soft against him. He clung to the hope that she would forgive him.

A desperate noise rose in her throat and Robin saw a green glow through his eyelids and he ducked quickly, narrowly avoiding being hit with a blast from her eyebeams.

"That is the second time today you have kissed me when I did not wish for it," she growled.

Robin stared up at her. "Star. Please." He felt tears prick at his eyes and he closed them. "I love you."

"Do not make this harder than it already is, Robin." She sounded dejected. "Please. I really, truly wish for you to leave."

This time, he didn't argue.

As the door whooshed closed behind him, Starfire stared at it. She had a strong desire to rip it out of the wall and yank him back in her room by his cape and kiss him until she died.

She collapsed prostrate on her bed, pillowing her head on her arms and crying into them. It was stupid, really, that the death of a week-old relationship had such a profound effect on her.

But that was a lie. Their relationship was most certainly older than one week. Just like a child that had just been born but had been growing and developing and _feeling_ for months before. She tried to pinpoint when it was that she actually fell in love with Robin. Maybe it was when they danced together at Kitten's prom. And even before that, she'd definitely had strong feelings for him. Maybe his attachment to her was much more recent.

She heard a distressed noise from her closet and she floated over to it. Or, rather, she tried to float over it before crashing onto the ground. She almost lost it and broke into tears sprawled out on the ground like that, but she forced herself to get up and open her closet door.

Silkie was curled up on one of her dirty uniforms, which she'd thrown on the floor and kicked into her closet so that Robin wouldn't see the mess. She picked Silkie up and squeezed him to her chest. "At least I have you, my little bumgorf. She walked back to her bed and collapsed on the mattress with the larva cradled in her arms.

This time yesterday, everything was so perfect. Things turned bad really quickly. Starfire would have to talk to Raven about this. There was no way Raven would have encouraged him. But maybe he said something to her that gave some indication that he was thinking of Starfire… Even so, she didn't know if she could forgive him.

She stroked Silkie, using the repetition of her fingers on the larva's smooth back to distract her a little. The amount of sadness that Starfire felt was crushing. It was like every happy moment she'd ever felt with Robin was compressed and turned upside down, twisting it into sadness so desperate that it hurt, and she was feeling it all at once. She stayed in her bed until the sun went down and her stomach urged her to the ops room to get food.

She checked the room carefully before entering. Raven and Robin were both missing. She was almost happy until she thought that they might be together. She shut her eyes against hot tears and gulped down a lump in her throat that was making it hard to breathe.

Cyborg and Beast Boy had paused their game- a momentous occasion- and were both peering at her over the ledge of the sofa.

"Greetings, friends," she said with a smile, trying to force cheer into her voice.

The boys glanced at each other, not knowing what to say.

Well, they obviously knew that something was going on. She might as well ask. "Do either of you know where Robin is?" She kept her voice carefully neutral, even though just saying his name made her feel like a sharp object that had been pushed through her heart was getting twisted…

"He's in the gym," Beast Boy answered, trying to keep his voice soft. His ears were pointed down.

Cyborg glanced at Beast Boy before nervously asking, "Is everything between you guys… okay?"

Starfire didn't answer, but she couldn't stop her eyes from widening or her lips from curving into a frown or her body from tensing up.

Beast Boy leaped on Cyborg's shoulders, pushing the cybernetic teenager under the ledge of the sofa and out of Starfire's sight. "We put dinner in the fridge for you," he offered with a smile.

"You did not need to cook for me. But I thank you. What have you made?" she asked, really flattered at the gesture. They wouldn't pick sides- which was probably better for her, because as boys, they would probably pick Robin's- but they were letting her know they were there for her.

"Just go look in the fridge," Cyborg urged, pushing Beast Boy off of him and subsequently off the couch with a crash.

Starfire shot them a curious, almost suspicious look. She walked slowly to the fridge, the two boys smiling stupidly and following her with their eyes the whole way. She opened the fridge and gasped. "You have made me glorp!"

A jello-looking dish sat in the center of the fridge. The wobbly substance was purple and it had green wiggly things that looked suspiciously like worms coming out of it. She placed it on the counter, grabbed a spoon out of the drawer, and took a spoonful into her mouth. She licked her lips appreciatively.

She rocketed toward the boys, almost dragging them over the back of the couch as she caught each of their necks in a thankful hug. Grateful tears pricked at her eyes. She kissed them each where she could easily reach on their hair or temple to emphasize how grateful she was.

"But how did you do it?"

After she let them go and they caught their breaths back, Beast Boy gave her a sheepish smile. "We kinda found your recipes…"

"And we knew you were feelin' kinda down… so…"

"Does it taste alright?" Beast Boy asked anxiously.

"We couldn't tell if… um, if that was how it was supposed to taste," Cyborg admitted, pulling a grimace at the memory of the taste.

"It is wonderful! It is meant to be a dessert, but I think I will spoil myself and have it for my dinner." She smiled at the boys. Tears pricked at her eyes. They really did care about her.

They both noticed the tears welling in her eyes and shot each other a slightly panicked glance. She excused herself quickly.

Starfire walked back to her room with her glorp. Cyborg and Beast Boy's show of kindness drowned out her sorrow and let her fly toward them for a quick hug, but it wasn't enough to carry her to her room.

The hallway was a little bit dark. It was dusk now, and the lights were probably going to kick on in a few minutes- they came on automatically when it got dark- and Starfire almost didn't see him until he was right next to her.

Her heart stopped. Robin was walking toward her. He was dressed in black sweatpants and a black sleeveless shirt, with bare feet and white towel thrown over his shoulders. His hair was damp at the hairline and she could smell the salty tang of dried sweat on his skin.

She was so close to her room. It was just behind him. They both stopped walking. He just looked at her. He didn't say anything. He didn't really have to. She knew that he went to the gym at odd hours by himself when he was angry or worried. He'd kept his bandages on over his knuckles, so he must have hurt his hands a little. She noticed that his right wrist was wrapped in an ace bandage. The thought of Robin straining himself over her made her heart twinge. She wanted to rush over to him and kiss his knuckles where he'd bruised and cut them.

But then she imagined him kissing Raven behind her back. Her heart shattered. She made an involuntary distressed noise and squeezed her eyes shut as she backed up against the wall for support.

"Starfire…" he was standing in front of her now. She kept her eyes shut tight. She took a breath in and held it.

"Starfire, please. Listen to me. Open your eyes. Star… please."

His voice cracked and it very nearly broke her resolve. Her hands were shaking. All the little pieces of her shattered heart throbbed at the sound of his voice. A million little pricks of pain in her chest would have stopped her from talking to him even if she wanted to.

He made an annoyed noise in his throat. He stepped even closer- she could feel his hair brush her forehead- and very softly he said, "Koriand'r. Kori, I _need _you to-"

He pushed too far. She flinched against the wall, her shoulders bunched together awkwardly. A strange bussing noise filled her eyes and swelled to a shrill hum before fading quickly. She let herself sink to the floor and the plate of glorp slid out of her hands. That would stain the carpet. She rested her forehead against her knees, a throbbing coming from somewhere deep in her skull behind her eyes.

When she looked up, he was gone. She hadn't heard him leave, but that wasn't much of a surprise. Her glorp was sitting on the plate next to her. Robin must have caught it before it smashed into the ground. She picked it up, still shaking, and disappeared into her room.

**D= I can't believe I just wrote that. I just broke up my OTP for this story! I hope I didn't do too badly. I was actually able to crank out this chapter in a couple hours, which is good, because lately I've been having some writer's block with this fic. But it seems to have passed. Fun fact: Robin and Starfire each said 'please' to each other three times in this chapter. It feels like I used that word a million times though. I have the chapters on a 'Starfire then Raven' type rotation thing, alternating by chapter, but this one is kind of Robin's point of view, then switching to Starfire. I don't think you're really supposed to switch point of view like that in the middle of a chapter… but it felt natural. I know that at least some of you are waiting for the RobRae. I promise, next chapter. I felt like Robin and Starfire had to be properly broken up before I started with the RobRae fluff. Robin's not the type to sneak around. I hope the breakup scene was okay. Let me know in the reviews! Any constructive criticism is welcome, because this is not something I have a lot of practice in writing!**

"What I need right now," Robin said, his voice soft, "is to be distracted."

Raven looked up at him in surprise. "I can do that," she whispered.

Robin came closer to her, his face so close she was almost going cross eyed.

"Wait," she interrupted, ducking away a little. He raised an eyebrow at her. "Robin… I've never… I mean, I haven't… I don't know how to…"

He gave her a tiny smile that melted her brain. "It's okay," he murmured, taking her chin and tipping it up.

**(Proof of RobRae fluff. There.)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Some of you have been waiting excitedly for this chapter! I hope I did not fail you. This chapter has a POV switch like the last chapter, except that this chapter switches from Robin's point of view to Raven's. Oops? I think it adds another dimension, though, and I don't plan to do it again. Well, maybe one more time, but not for a little while. Let me know what you guys think about that! RobRae fluff can be found by scrolling down.**

**Disclaimer: Teen Titans is owned by Warner Brothers and DC.**

A series of shouts followed by dull thuds could be heard in the hallway outside the workout room, if anyone was standing outside listening. And there wasn't. People tended to stay away when Robin was angry. Well, most people. Not Starfire- she usually stayed near him when he was angry, and on any other day she might be in the hall, listening with worried tears in her eyes as each thud punctuated with a yell stabbed through the quiet air. Sometimes he knew she was there. Sometimes she stood outside the door like that because he sent her out of the room but she couldn't bear to be away from him. But he knew she wasn't there, and that in turn was only feeding his anger.

Sweat rolled from the Teen Wonder's temples, soaking his hairline. The collar of his shirt was slightly damp, too. He'd been doing this for too long. He should have stopped an hour ago- training when you were tired out led to sloppy form. But he couldn't bear to pull himself away from the rhythmic lull of his fists on the punching bag, the feel of sand shifting slightly under his knuckles, the dull sting in his knuckles, and the feel of his breath rushing in and out of his throat. Concentrating on all that made it hard to think about anything else, and that was just how he wanted it.

He had to stop soon. His throat was constricting. He was out of breath, but he thought that the lump in his throat was more of an indication of emotional stress rather than physical stress. He spun toward the bag, throwing one last desperate punch. As he landed it, he shifted his body weight into his fist, which would have been fine if he was hitting a target that would fall down or give more than the tiny shift the hook allowed the bag to move, but as it was he strained his wrist on the follow through.

He cursed and tore blindly at his belt, grabbing a birdarang without fully realizing what he was doing, and he threw it wildly at the bag. It grazed it messily, teetering back at him. He raised his hand instinctively to catch it, but it brushed over his fingers before clattering to the ground. He let himself fall into the punching bag. His forehead rested against it, smearing the canvass with sweat. He stepped back. The punching bag was bleeding sand out of a gash he just ripped in the side. He glared at it and pulled the tape away from his hands with his teeth, unwrapping his sore knuckles. The sight of just his left hand made him groan. Each of his knuckles was bruised, with colorful splotches or blue and purple dotted around his hand, too. His first two knuckles had spit open and his thumb was bruised under his nail and over the first knuckle. Damn, that's going to hurt tomorrow if they get called on a mission. He'd have to stick with kicks and weapons for offense.

He wrapped white gauze around his left hand and, without inspecting it too much and just accepting that his hand was going to be almost useless, wrapped the knuckles on his right hand and wrapped his wrist like it was sprained, assuming it was without really examining it. He wasn't in the mood to treat his body with respect, as was evidenced by the last hour of "training"- really, it was just punishment.

He padded through the halls. It was just getting dark. The days were getting shorter, which was almost comforting to Robin. The weather was always temperate in Jump City, unless it was sweltering. He was used to the kind of weather changes that brought snow and hail and made your breath puff out in front of you.

He rounded the corner cautiously. Would Starfire be out? He wasn't sure where she'd go when she was upset. She was so rarely depressed or unhappy that there hadn't been an observable pattern. So many months ago, when she was upset about Blackfire's arrival and departure, she seemed to be prone to go up on the roof, which was also one of Robin's favorite places and he'd been avoiding it to give her some privacy. But when she was going through her Transformation she stayed in her room a lot. But then she was specifically trying to avoid them.

In the dusky light coming in through the windows, the hallway was more in shadow than not. Robin felt his heart drop to his toes and leap into his mouth at the same time. She was actually out. No more than twenty yards away from him. Holding some weird alien jell-o.

He smiled involuntarily and he almost hated himself for it. He loved her weird alien things. Maybe… maybe if she saw him she would understand. He'd have to pass her, anyway. His room was down this hall. He took a deep breath and walked toward her, keeping on the opposite side of the hallway so that she didn't feel too closed in. She froze when he got about ten feet away from her, which made him clam up and stop, too. At least her room was now behind him, so she would have to pass him to get to it.

He watched her with wide eyes, suddenly realizing that he was terrified. He was scared that she would reject him again. The pain in his wrist flared through his body, and he grit his teeth. He had this weird pain in his chest that had to be a physical manifestation of emotional pain… it couldn't actually be his _heart_ that was hurting him. It was a tight, constricting feeling.

She made a distressed noise in her throat that was half moan, half squeak. She shut her eyes tight. He couldn't stand it anymore- her fear and the weird ache in his chest were driving out all rational thoughts.

"Starfire…" he breathed. He didn't mean to talk to her. He meant to just _convey_ how torn up about this he was. But saying her name released some built up tension in him, relaxed the constricted pain in his chest, gave him confidence. He stepped close to her, trying to be caring and not intimidating. "Starfire please." She wasn't listening. She was huddled so close to the wall like she was trying to sink into it, her plate of weird Tamaranean food clutched against her stomach like a barrier between them.

That stung. She wouldn't even look at him. How was he supposed to apologize when she wouldn't even look at him? "Open your eyes." Nothing. Not even one cracked open to peer at him. He tried to inject his hurt and his sorrow and his love into the next plea. "Star… please."

He noticed that her hands were shaking. The plate quivered and the jell-o looked dangerously close to shaking right off it. Dammit, why was she doing this to him? Seeing her literally tremble at the sight of him was doing awful things to his mind and his body and his spirit. His knees felt weak with horror and he just wanted to hold her and touch her hair and her face and make her feel better.

He moved even closer. God, at this proximity he could just lean forward and kiss her. There was one more thing he didn't try. He could still make her listen to him. "Koriand'r," he whispered, her true name rolling off his tongue like a simple litany. "Kori, I need you to-"

She flinched against the wall, her knees buckled under her and she started sliding down the wall into a sitting position, completely forgetting the plate in her white-knuckled fingers.

Guilt made his voice die in his throat. Was he really that bad? The lump in his throat came back and he could hardly swallow past it. He took the plate, which was about to flip onto the floor, and laid it gently on the ground next to her feet.

He almost pulled her into his arms, planning on holding her until she stopped shaking, letting her know that _he was there for her_- but her head sunk into her knees and for a panicked second he thought he made her faint.

No, she wouldn't want that. Obviously, she needed space. Feeling like he was working against the control of puppet strings, he forced himself to stand up and walk away from her. It hurt, leaving her like that. It tore a gash in his chest that made pressure rise behind his eyes. He walked like a drunken man toward his room, rounding another corner. His, Beast Boy, and Raven's rooms were on this side of the hall.

Robin stopped at the door to his room. He stared in blankly. His bed. Starfire was supposed to sleep there tonight. He kept staring as something inside him snapped. His eyes blurred out of focus. He gritted his teeth and balled his hands into fists trying to fight the tidal wave of nausea that was coming through him. He let his door close and spun away from it, knocking on the door diagonal from his.

Almost immediately, Raven opened it. She didn't say anything, she just leaned against the frame, looking at him. She looked at his hair, his face, his shirt, his feet. "You told her?" she asked, staring at his hands.

"Yeah," he managed.

"She didn't take it well?"

Robin couldn't answer that. "Can I come in?"

She knew he'd been in the workout room. She knew what that meant. But more obviously, she could feel it herself. The turmoil, the guilt, the heartbreak, the anger. All of it ate at her. There was nothing lighthearted there. Seeing Raven did nothing to lift his spirits. She didn't want him there to remind that he loved Starfire. That she broke them up.

"Yes." But she couldn't say no to him.

He stepped in her room. The door slid closed. They were alone. The lights were dim, her bed was a few yards away from where they stood. Raven felt a little dizzy. "I don't know what I can do to help."

He looked at her numbly, before stepping closer to her and grabbing her hand. Raven glanced down at their entwined fingers, just to make sure. Lightning danced up her arm to her head, blocking out everything.

"What I need right now," Robin said, his voice soft, "is to be distracted."

Raven looked up at him in surprise. Distracted. Goosebumps dotted her skin. She took a closer look at Robin's emotions. All of what she sensed earlier was there, but she could feel a warm trickle of something lighter. Excited giddy lovey-dovey feeling. The feeling of going up in an elevator so fast that your stomach had to catch up. "I can do that," she whispered. She didn't mean to whisper- it was too corny to be planned out in advance. But her mouth was suddenly too dry.

Robin came closer to her, his face so close she was almost going cross eyed.

"Wait," she interrupted, ducking away a little. He raised an eyebrow at her. "Robin… I've never… I mean, I haven't… I don't know how to…"

He gave her a tiny smile that melted her brain. "It's okay," he murmured, taking her chin and tipping it up.

She closed her eyes. His lips brushed against hers softly. Raven made her whole world that little bit of contact. Heat flooded her face and excited chills shot up her back. She put her arms around his waist, pulling him closer.

He pressed his lips against hers a little more firmly, and she pressed right back. The rush she was getting was clouding her mind. She wasn't thinking at all, she was just feeling. She drank in Robin's own excitement. It fueled hers. She was getting everything twofold. She almost couldn't stand with the intensity of it.

Robin ran his fingers through her hair. It wasn't as long as Starfire's, and for a moment his fingers twitched in the air when they weren't tangled in her hair anymore, but he covered by pressing his fingers lightly against the nape of her neck.

He trailed his fingers down her back, gathering the material of her white cloak, and stopped when he hit her waist.

Feeling adventurous- or rather, so inundated with feelings that she wasn't thinking enough to be shy- she broke their kiss and pressed kisses along his jawline. She stopped when she got to his collar where his cape attached to his uniform. She rested her head against his chest.

Robin nuzzled her hair with his cheek.

"Thank you," she blurted out before she could stop herself.

He pulled away from her. "Thanks?" he repeated.

"I was afraid you'd be angry with me," she told him, eyes cast down, voice quiet.

Robin sighed. "I don't know how I feel. I'm so confused. For- for months I thought I lo- I thought I had this _thing_ with Starfire. But maybe… Maybe subconsciously…" he paused. He scratched the nape of his neck awkwardly. "Look, I'm not usually the kind of guy to act on whatever strikes me right away. I wait things out. I guess that's some kinda character flaw, but I _like_ that about myself. But when I'm with you… all that goes away."

Raven furrowed her brow at him. "I'm sorry."

He shook his head quickly. "No! No, Raven, don't apologize. Maybe that's what I need. And when I'm around you I feel like I can't control myself." He blushed, and she returned it. "I don't know what I'm feeling right now. Everything happened so fast. All I know is that just now, I felt good. I felt happy. I know what I'm doing. I want… I want something for us."

Raven looked up at him, a watery smile on her face. "I was so scared you'd be mad at me."

He didn't answer; he just smiled down at her. He rubbed her cheek with his thumb comfortingly.

Raven picked up his right hand and slowly unwrapped the ace bandage. He looked down at her curiously, but made no attempt to stop her. She massaged a somewhat swollen muscle with two fingers. He winced and gasped, jerking his hand away from her. She reached up and pressed a kiss against his lips, reaching for his wrist again. He gave it to her obediently. She held his wrist in her hand and a white glow emanated from her fingertips.

Robin took his hand away and rolled his wrist in front of his face experimentally. "Huh. Thanks."

"No problem." She slid her fingertips to his knuckles she stroked the gauze. "Let me heal your-"

"No!" he protested, jerking his hand away again.

She arched an eyebrow at him.

"No. Thanks. But I'd prefer it if you didn't."

Raven concentrated on his emotions. She wasn't getting a clear reading. He was still slightly giddy from kissing her- a realization that made Raven's insides leap happily- but he also seemed somewhat confused. There was still an edge of anger. How could he still be angry? He was here with her. He shouldn't be angry anymore.

"Robin. Please. I want to help you. With Trigon's defeat, my powers… They got stronger. I can heal emotional pain, too, now." She decided not to tell him about the emotion manipulation thing. Even though she'd tested it on the others, she wasn't sure how much control she had. She didn't seem to be able to change Starfire's emotions, so maybe she wasn't able to control everyone's emotions, anyway.

He furrowed his brow at her.

"I can help you," she told him softly. She traced her fingers up his cheek until they rested at his temples.

Robin jerked away. She was really getting tired of that. "Raven… listen. It's hard, but… I would never want to change the way I feel about something just because it's easier."

"Why not?" she asked. Her tone wasn't accusatory or contrary. She was just confused.

He ran a hand through his hair. "I guess because… Who we are comes from what we were. So changing how I feel now might change my future."

Raven furrowed her brow uncomprehendingly. "But I wouldn't change it. Just make it hurt less. I don't want you to hurt."

Robin smiled at her. "I know. Thanks. But hurting is important. Don't you know that your muscles get stronger when you strain them?"

Raven let the corners of her lips turn up. Leave it to Robin to come up with a workout metaphor. But it was a good metaphor, and she could understand his point.

"Okay. I won't use my powers to alter your emotions," she answered seriously.

He looked alarmed. "I didn't mean that. Maybe there's some situation that might make your powers useful."

Raven shook her head softly. "Sometimes it's hard to know when I'm crossing a line with my powers. I try to be respectful of other people, but it's difficult. The morality of empathic abilities is an extensive subject researched in Azarath… but the library was burned."

Robin looked surprised. "It was?"

She nodded solemnly. "Yes. All of Azarath was razed. Burned. They are rebuilding now, but I wish I had grabbed some of the scrolls about empathic morality before I left."

Robin wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "You didn't know then. It's okay. We'll help you. All of us. If there's ever anything you need, we're here. I know that you cope with things a little differently… But please don't lock yourself in your room for a week again. Everyone was worried sick about you. Especially-"

"What?" Raven demanded. "Especially what?"

"Starfire," he murmured.

She had to fight not to roll her eyes, both at the mood-killing effect of Robin's words and her own stupidity at not guessing it.

"Oh," she answered. She tried not to read his thoughts, but she couldn't help it. He was so confused, and he was still angry. And, what made her most unhappy, he had little tingles of what he was feeling when they kissed at the sound of her name. She shook her head to clear it. Great. They weren't even dating and she felt cheated on.

But his feelings would pass, and so would Starfire's. The whole world wasn't going to end over a breakup.

"Raven?"

She snapped her head in Robin's direction. She had been quiet for too long.

"Not to be too forward or anything…" He swallowed nervously. "Do you mind if I sleep in here?"

She blushed. "Um…."

"I didn't mean like _that_," he added hastily. "Just… I could really use some company. We could do an under the sheets, over the sheets kind of deal."

Raven laced her fingers together at the nape of his neck. "Don't be stupid. Get under the covers," Raven ordered.

It was still early, but the two teens weren't worried too much about that.

**Um. Good? Good RobRae fluff? I tried, guys! It's not even really like I have an aversion for them together. I just think that he belongs with Starfire! I think my writing is better when I have one character working out their feelings. Like, the first couple paragraphs of this chapter is much better than the last few paragraphs. I think I'm a better descriptive writer than an action writer, and I guess thought is more descriptive than talking about it, like Robin and Raven did in the last part of the chapter. I guess that's something I need to work on. What do you guys think? If you didn't like the RobRae fluff, tell me how I can improve it. I tried to be as fair with the Robin-loving as I was in previous chapters. If the only problem was that it wasn't hot enough… it was their first kiss, so I'm not apologizing for that. Also, I originally planned on having a lot more Beast Boy in this chapter, but he kind of got replaced by Robin's angst in the beginning. Whoops.**

He sighed. "Don't do this to yourself."

She continued to stare at him. She burrowed deeper into her covers, tempted to cover her face. "I have not done anything to myself," she protested.

He grunted. "I know that you've been locking yourself in your room and staying in here by yourself."

She glared at him. "I am sorry that I did not have anyone else lined up to comfort me."

"It wasn't like that," he mumbled.

Silence stretched between them. Starfire was busy keeping away the tears that pricked at her eyes. She stared at the ceiling in an attempt not to cry. "I am not doing anything to myself," she said after she was sure her voice wouldn't shake. "Staying in my bed like a recluse. I do this because of you, and it is not fair of you to suggest that I do it by choice."


	9. Chapter 9

**Oh my god you guys. I did a stupid. A really big stupid. I uploaded the wrong documents to the wrong chapters and I posted it and... oops. So go back to chapter 6 if you want. It should be all fixed now. I apologize for all the e-mails if you subscribed to me or this story. My bad. Take this chapter as compensation.**

**Disclaimer: Teen Titans is owned by Warner Brothers and DC.**

Starfire sighed.

She'd never sighed that much before. It was an Earthly habit. But it accurately conveyed how she was feeling. Everything was so piled up in her that she could only get it out by forcefully making air pass through her lips.

It had been six days since her fight with Robin. To her humiliation, it had been four days since Robin and Raven had become "a thing".

She'd been staying holed up in her room, with mainly Silkie for company. Cyborg and Beast Boy would come check on her, remind her to eat, tell her that it would just be the three of them. And she was grateful.

She hated when they told her it would be okay. It was _not_ okay. She didn't know if it would ever be okay again.

Being this upset over a boy was depressing. For the first two days after her fight, she'd been emotionally debilitated. She didn't bother going on missions, because she didn't have proper access to her emotions. On the third day, though, she realized that it wasn't just Robin that was bothering her. It was Robin and Raven and the mere fact that people that she trusted so much could crush her so easily.

She never wanted to go back home as badly as she did then. She would rather be Grand Ruler of Tamaran, literally worlds away from her current problems. Of course, she never thought of herself as the type to lead, but she could if she had to.

There was a knock at her door.

For the past five days, Starfire had been terrified that it would be Robin at the door. It wasn't even that kind of scared where she was half hoping that it really would be him. It was just fear. She would answer the door trembling, glancing nervously behind either Cyborg or Beast Boy or both of them to make sure Robin wasn't there.

But he hadn't tried reaching out to her since she saw him leaving the gym. She stopped wondering if he was behind the door. It didn't really make her feel much better, but her trembling fear was replaced by a dull ache.

"Come in," Starfire called weakly.

The boys entered, used to this by now. "Hey, Star," Cyborg called soothingly, looking out of place among the pink in her room.

"Greetings," she answered weakly.

"You didn't come down for breakfast this morning," Beast Boy reprimanded gently.

"I am aware. I was feeling the queasiness and did not wish to aggravate my stomachs further by breaking the fast," she answered as she observed her hands.

"You didn't come out for dinner, either," Cyborg reminded her.

"I was not hungry," she answered simply.

The boys shot each other a glance and Beast Boy morphed into a kitten and hopped up on her bed, mewing adorably.

Starfire petted him from between the ears to his back a few times. He turned back to his human form. "Please come get some lunch?" he asked, pouting slightly.

She looked at both her friends. Honestly, she wasn't hungry. She didn't really have a reason to be- she'd just been sitting in bed for the past week, anyway. But her friends looked so concerned, and she didn't want to worry them anymore.

"Very well. I will accompany you two…" She didn't need to ask the question outright. They knew by now.

"Yep, just the three of us," Cyborg rushed to assure her.

She got out of bed. She would have floated down the hall after them, but she hadn't been able to fly since her argument with Robin, aside from occasional thirty second long bursts of happiness whenever Cyborg or Beast Boy did something nice for her. She hadn't been able to access her alien strength, either. She just wasn't feeling very confident. Thankfully, when she wasn't pathetically sad and depressed she was angry, so her starbolts were at full power.

She followed the boys into the ops room and they got out sandwich material and laid it on the counter.

Starfire liked making sandwiches. There was so much room for variation. She stepped into the fridge and got some of the items they neglected, and rummaged through the cupboards for more. She spread frosting and mustard on two pieces of bread, then added ham, cheese, more mustard, onions, apple slices, turkey, and cherries.

Cyborg and Beast Boy chose not to comment. They weren't really surprised, anyway.

She was about to raise her concoction to her mouth when Raven and Robin entered the room. Her eyes went huge and Cyborg and Beast Boy froze.

They were holding hands. Robin waved to them all with a big smile, even Starfire. It was like he forgot that anything even happened. Robin jumped over the back of the couch and put his arm over it and Raven settled into the crook of his arm.

No one said anything, except for murmurs from Robin and Raven that the other three couldn't quite make out.

Starfire lowered her sandwich to her plate and blinked a few times. When she turned to the boys, her eyes were glassy.

"No, Star… don't. It's okay," Beast Boy tried to console her quietly so that Robin and Raven wouldn't notice.

"It's okay," Cyborg told her, matching Beast Boy's tone. "We'll go somewhere else. The roof or something."

She just shook her head. She tried to form words, but they wouldn't come out of her throat. She shook her head again, trying to blink the tears away, and she spun away from them and ran out of the room.

The two boys sighed, looking at Starfire's gross sandwich with concern. When they looked up, the almost flinched back. Robin and Raven were staring at them.

"What's wrong?" Raven asked.

Beast Boy and Cyborg glanced at each other, unsure of what to say. "Um. She just… I guess she's not feeling so great."

Robin kissed the top of Raven's head before untangling his arms from around her. "Let me talk to her."

Beast Boy and Cyborg didn't know what to do. "Nah, dude, I think it's more like… ya know… girl stuff…"

Robin seemed weirdly unfazed. "It's okay, guys. I won't do anything."

They looked unsurely at each other. "Listen, Rob, I really don't think that's a good idea."  
Robin ignored them and took the plate in her hands.

As he walked out of the room, all eyes were on him. Beast Boy and Cyborg looked uncomfortable and concerned, and Raven didn't look very happy.

Starfire huddled under her covers again. Her eyes were wet, but tears wouldn't actually come. She was so tired of this that she couldn't actually cry about it anymore. That wasn't even the first time she saw Robin since their breakup. She'd gone on a mission with him, but they mostly ignored each other. And he hadn't been touchy with Raven at all. Seeing them like that drove a spear up her chest. She just needed to calm down. She took a few calming breaths. Nothing has changed- she knew they were together, anyway.

But that wasn't even really what was bothering her. It ached when she saw him casually going about his day like that. Not the sharp kind of painful ache she'd been used to- it was a soft ache that was more of a pull than anything. It was like her heart was crying out for him.

She'd spent almost a week crying over him. He'd moved on. But she still wanted him. She closed her eyes. Now the tears were coming. She remembered all the moments they'd spent in here. His fingers in her hair, his mouth on hers, their legs touching… his hands on her waist… She wanted that back. She wiped at her eyes. Knowing that she would never get that back was like a weight around her ankles, and she was sinking…

There was a knock at her door. She wiped at her face. "Come in."

She almost fainted when Robin walked through her door. "Where should I put this?" he asked, gesturing toward her forgotten sandwich, which he held in his fingers.

She stared at him with wide eyes. "W-what do you mean?"

He raised an eyebrow at her, like _she _was the one acting weird. "I mean I brought you your lunch and I don't know where you want me to put it."

She was angry and sad and indignant and so, _so _happy that he was there. "What are you doing?" She said it in an overly dramatic way, like he'd just cut her open. But that was how she _felt_. She had scars from him that no one would ever be able to see. It hurt the same as any scars she'd ever gotten.

He sighed. "Don't do this to yourself."

She continued to stare at him. She burrowed deeper into her covers, tempted to cover her face. "I have not done anything to myself," she protested.

He grunted. "I know that you've been locking yourself in your room and staying in here by yourself."

She glared at him. "I am sorry that I did not have anyone else lined up to comfort me."

"It wasn't like that," he mumbled.

Silence stretched between them. Starfire was busy keeping away the tears that pricked at her eyes. She stared at the ceiling in an attempt not to cry. "I am not doing anything to myself," she said after she was sure her voice wouldn't shake. "Staying in my bed like a recluse. I do this because of you, and it is not fair of you to suggest that I do it by choice."

Robin blew air out of his mouth from his cheeks. "Yeah, I get that. But you can't just stay here. You have to… you know, cope."

He was making her angry. "Why are you suddenly so concerned?" she demanded, turning her face to look at him.

"I've _been _concerned, Starfire. I've been tiptoeing around you for the past week." His face and voice softened. "I've tried not to be so… open with her. For you."

Starfire rolled her eyes. "Thank you for taking my feelings into consideration. That must have been inconvenient for you."

Robin's eyes widened. Sarcasm wasn't in Starfire's usual repertoire of verbal weapons. "What's that supposed to mean?" He couldn't summon the bite into his voice he meant to. Instead of sounding angry, he just sounded vulnerable.

"It means that perhaps if you had considered my feelings from the very start we would not be in this situation."

He shifted uncomfortably. "God, Star, I-I know. I never meant to hurt you. I feel so guilty about it."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Not _that_ guilty, clearly."

"Starfire. Stop it. It's not that simple," he growled.

"I do not understand how you can tell me that you feel sorry for the original offense- which is kissing Raven- and then continue to do it. It does not make sense to me," she explained, her words coming out sharp and short.

"She was there for me," he whispered, trying to hold onto the sense that he was right.

"And I was not. So I was wrong," she prodded. He didn't answer her. "Robin, you engaged in lip contact with someone else while we were in the ritual of dating. You hurt me." Her voice was coming out weak, and she swallowed past a lump in her throat before continuing. "Action had to be taken. I did what I felt I had to. You committed a wrong, and the punishment was time apart. Instead of serving out your punishment, you committed the same act again."

Robin's eyes widened. "Don't say it like that. Like I'm a criminal."

"It is similar! We fight crime, we put the villain in jail, and then he comes out with a chance to rehabilitate. Some criminals commit the same act again and we put them back in jail. You have broken out and are committing crimes."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "That's how you see it? Starfire, not everything is like that. You don't get to punish me. You don't get to lecture me."

She blinked at him. He was taking this to a different level. She almost wanted to shrink back into her covers, but she held firm. "I was supposed to let you hurt me, then? I was supposed to ignore my feelings?"

"No! But you didn't even give me a chance to defend myself or make it up to you," he explained, calming down a little.

"You could have done the making up of it by being nice to me. You have not done such a good job."

She was alarmed by what he did next. His mouth was working, but no sound came out. She raised an eyebrow at him and he fell on his knees in front of her, hanging his head. "I'm sorry," he whispered, struggling to stand up.

She threw the covers away from her. "Robin! Are you injured?" Even though it made her stomach twist itself into knots, she took his arm and dragged him onto his feet. It was like his legs gave out from under him.

"Star," he breathed, the emotion in his voice making the broken halves of her heart twitch together. "I'm so confused. Sometimes I think about you… and I can't breathe, it hurts so much… And I want to go to you and tell you that I…" He tightened his grip on her hand, which he was using to keep himself upright. He raised one hand and traced it along her cheek. His touch made her skin heat up where he touched her, like a molten trail of lava traveling over her cool skin.

He pulled his hand away quickly, dragging it through his hair as he remembered himself. "But then… Then sometimes-"

The door slid open and they both jumped. Raven peered in at them, and Robin guiltily jerked his hands away from Starfire. Raven observed them with a carefully neutral face. "Is everything okay?" she asked.

"Yeah. We were just talking," he answered, any trace of his odd spell from before fading quickly.

"You seem upset," Raven said to both of them.

Robin sighed, calming himself. "We're okay."

Starfire stared at him. He walked over to Raven and took her hand in his and she smiled at him.

"Okay. Are you okay, Starfire?" Raven asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

Starfire was flabbergasted. How could he be so unhinged one moment and then so calm the next? Maybe he really did belong with Raven. Starfire had never been able to calm him so quickly. And Raven's behavior was strange to her, too. She had to know how much Robin had hurt Starfire because of how he was involved with Raven. But the empath still seemed concerned about Starfire's well-being. "I'm fine," Starfire squeaked out.

Raven nodded. "We'll give you some privacy now."

Starfire nodded as they left. After a few moments, she noticed that a dull ache was pounding in her head. It was getting stronger by the second. She put her hand to her forehead. X'hal, it was getting worse and worse.

Her communicator buzzed on her bedside table. She grabbed it and lay on her bed as she flipped it open. "Hello?" she asked weakly.

It was Galfore. She was comforted almost immediately at the sight of her k'norfka.

"Hello, my bumgorf," he answered with a smile. He said the first word in English, imitating her pronunciation, but he said the last two words in Tamaranean. She was glad. With the pounding ache in her head, it would be easier to talk in her native tongue.

"Oh, Galfore!" she exclaimed happily. Her own volume made her wince.

"What is the matter, bumgorf?" he asked, cocking his head.

"I have a most unusual headache…"

"Unusual?" he asked, his voice tinged with concern. "How unusual?"

"It grows worse with every tick of the clock. I cannot… is it a migraine?"

Galfore scratched his chin with his index finger. "A migraine? Bumgorf, you have been on Earth too long. Migraines affect our people only when they commit crimes. Tamaranean nature demands that we behave at our best, and we get migraines when we go against our nature. Do you not remember how your sister was affected by them so?"

Starfire furrowed her brow. "I do, k'norfka. Then what could be the cause of this terrible aching of my head?"

"Headaches alert us to when something is wrong internally. You have not been keeping secrets or sneaking around, I trust?"

Starfire shook her head in the negative, but regretted it instantly. She gritted her teeth as a wave of pain overtook her momentarily.

Galfore looked concerned. "If it is worsening, then something is amiss within you right now. What were you just doing, bumgorf?"

"I have been feeling sad lately, Galfore. That would not cause such pains, has it?" she asked worriedly.

"No. Only repressing your sadness would cause pain. You have not been, have you?"

Starfire thought about it. No, she had definitely not been repressing her sadness. She had been feeling it with as much vigor as she always felt her emotions. "No," she answered.

Galfore shrugged. "I do not know what the problem is. Would you like to talk to me about your sadness?" he asked.

She bit her lip. She really did, but right now her head was pounding. "Galfore, I love you, and I always wish to talk to you, but I think I need to lie down."

He nodded wisely. "Of course. Get well. I will call you tomorrow. I love you, my bumgorf."

"I love you, too, k'norfka. Protect Tamaran."

"Of course, Highness." He bowed his head as he cut the signal.

Starfire flipped her communicator closed and laid it on her chest. She rubbed her temples soothingly, but it didn't seem to help at all.

The last time she had a headache like this was that last night with Robin. Little daggers stabbed at her chest at the thought. But she had to remember.

He was acting strangely then. That was when he kissed her even though she was in so much pain. Huh. She wondered if maybe her headache and his behavior were linked.

But that was stupid. How could they be linked? He didn't have any indication of a headache. And she didn't feel like behaving oddly. But if there was anything she picked up from watching Robin sleuth his way through a few missions, it was the knowledge that there were no coincidences.

She remembered that that night she was able to dispel the headache by shooting her eyebeams. She staggered over to her window and pushed it open, letting out green energy with a pained shout.

That worked a little, and the pounding in her head was replaced with a dull throb. She sighed in relief.

She was tired. Those types of headaches must make her really tired. She crawled back under her covers. Maybe she should mention her tiredness when she called Galfore tomorrow. It could be important. She drifted off to sleep, feeling strangely peaceful after everything that had happened.

**I tried to make Starfire in character, but also not let her get bossed around and belittled. Let me know how I did. Also, Wonder Girl was originally going to make a cameo in this chapter. But she was replaced by Galfore. I love Wonder Girl. I really wanted to put her in a story, but I felt like it didn't make much sense, and with Galfore they could talk about Tamaran. Besides, they would have talked about Robin and I didn't want to deal with Robin/Wonder Girl shippers. Not that I have a problem with them as people, but I have a really big problem with the two of them together. Anyway, talk to me in your review guys! Until next time!**

Raven's knees buckled underneath her. How could this have happened? Was everything a lie? She leaned into the Tamaranean, who kneeled next to her friend and put her arms around her comfortingly. Tears stung at Raven's eyes. The entire time she'd been able to feel, this is the first time she cried.

While all these feelings were swirling around, she detached herself. Crying was certainly not fun, and feeling depressed was- well, depressing. But she couldn't help think that it was bittersweet. She remembered being happy, and she craved it now. Which almost made it worse, but the next time she was happy, maybe it would be even sweeter because she had this feeling to remember.


	10. Chapter 10

**Here. Have some plot.**

**Disclaimer: Teen Titans is owned by Warner Brothers and DC.**

Robin was sprawled out supine on Raven's bed. "We're a team, Raven. And I'm leader. That means that I have to make sure my teammates are okay."

Raven kept her expression neutral, as she'd been doing since she opened the door to Starfire's room. She was standing in front of the foot of her bed, looking down at him. "You can't act like it's completely unfounded for me to be a little uneasy about my boyfriend going into his ex-girlfriend's room less than a week after they broke up."

"No. I'm not. It _is_ founded. But you have to realize that I have duties," Robin answered evenly.

"I know that. But you could have asked me to go with you," she reminded him gently.

"Then she'd feel ganged up on. She didn't want to talk to me as it was."

There was a pause. "You know that I can read your emotions."

Robin looked at his girlfriend, calculating. "I know."

"So I was able to pick up on all of your feelings."

"I don't know what you're-"

"Do you love her?" Raven asked gently. Her tone wasn't accusing, but it was very soft. Robin pushed himself up onto his knees, almost as tall as her this way.

"I love _you_."

Raven looked at the ground. "But you still have feelings for her."

Robin paused. "I don't know. I guess it was just being near her after so many days of hardly seeing her at all.

She didn't answer.

"Look, it's a lot of change in one week. I'm happy with you, Raven," Robin assured her, clambering off the bed and putting his hands on her shoulders.

She smiled up at him before it faded into another neutral expression. "She still has feelings for you."

He furrowed his eyebrows at her. "What?"

"I- I thought you should know. I don't want to keep anything from you, Robin."

He cupped her chin in his hand but he felt somewhat distant. He was thinking about Starfire, Raven could tell. She wondered if he'd ever stood like this with her. How many of the things they did reminded him of Starfire? She didn't want to think about it.

"Have you read her emotions?" Robin asked softly.

"Yes," Raven answered, not really wanting to talk about this.

"How… how is she?"

"She's in pain. Her culture is all about embracing feelings, and I'm afraid she's allowing herself to get lost in her own pain. When we were in there, I tried to calm her a little… I know I said that I wouldn't manipulate my friends' emotions without asking, but I feel a little guilty and I thought-"

Robin shushed her and pressed his lips against hers lightly. "It's okay. I'm sure she'd appreciate it if she knew. I just don't like it because… It hits a little close to home with me."

Raven nodded.

"I'm feeling kind of tired," Robin murmured against her neck.

"Again? You keep getting tired really early," Raven pointed out, playing with his hair.

"Of course. When I'm sleeping next to you, why would I want to do anything else?" he asked, pulling her toward the bed.

"You sleep," she said, disentangling her hand from his. "I'm not tired yet. I'll be back later."

"Where are you going?" he asked, grabbing her hand and pulling her onto the bed with him. Her white cloak mixed with the black of his cape.

"Just going to meditate in the ops room. Besides, I haven't talked to Cyborg or Beast Boy in a while."

Robin tugged her toward him and kissed her slowly. Raven felt herself melt. She always got so caught up in his kisses. It was embarrassing. "Stop," she said against his lips, swatting at him playfully. "Time for that later," she whispered, her lips touching his as she talked.

He smiled stupidly and let her go. "I'm going to hold you to that."

"Please do," Raven called over her shoulder as the door hissed open.

The ops room was empty when she entered it, which was kind of annoying. She just wanted some company. She loved Robin, but she couldn't be around him while he- and she, for that matter- was thinking of Starfire.

She situated herself so that she was looking out at the water and the city skyline, which looked really beautiful in the dusky light, and assumed the lotus position.

"Azarath, Metri-"

As soon as she started chanting, she was interrupted. She smiled. Of course.

"Woah! Raven! What's up?"

She turned, smiling. "Well," she answered, glancing at the space between her legs and the floor, "me."

He stared at her before breaking out into peals of laughter. "You just made a joke! Good one!"

"Uh… thanks." She lowered herself onto the ground to talk to him.

"So, like, what's going on? I haven't seen you in a while."

Raven examined Beast Boy carefully. He was so excited to see her. She _had_ been AWOL for almost two weeks, at least from everyone besides Robin. But there was something about his excitement…

"I was just meditating," she said awkwardly.

"Oh! Oh, sorry. Um, I'll just-"

"No!" she interrupted. He cocked his head at her. "No, I didn't mean that. You can, um, stay if you want."

"Oh. Cool."

"Are you okay?" Raven asked, slightly agitated by his oddly placed excitement.

"Um, yeah. Am I bothering you?" he asked nervously.

"No. You haven't asked me to referee for Stankball or anything," she pointed out to switch topics.

"Yeah. Me and Cy have been trying to get Star out of her room. We're worried about her. We just knocked on her door, but she must've been asleep. She always lets us in, even if she doesn't want to," he explained.

That's weird. Robin just went to sleep, too. She kept that to herself, though. She took a closer look at his emotions. He was still weirdly excited, but he was also concerned for Starfire. It was sweet, but it made her feel a little guilty.

"I know Starfire's been really upset. I never meant for her to… I mean, what happened wasn't…" she struggled to explain.

Beast Boy sat next to her and slipped an arm around her shoulder, to her surprise. "It's okay," he said comfortingly. "It's not your fault."

She was touched by his display. "Thanks."

He removed his arm from her shoulders. "Heh, I half expected you to blast me for that," he admitted.

Raven smirked at him. "Me too."

"So… what's it like? New powers or anything?" Beast Boy asked curiously.

She hesitated. She hadn't even told Robin about her ability to manipulate emotions. She told him that he could heal emotional pain, but not replace it with something else. But she had the urge to tell Beast Boy.

It was different. Robin would analyze her ability and test it out and learn about it. Beast Boy would just accept it and maybe even get a little awestruck. That was all she wanted right now. "Actually, I did get a new power."

His eyes widened at her. "Really? Can I see?"

"Um… okay. Let me think." She racked her brain for an emotion to make Beast Boy feel. She decided to make him feel two drastically different ones, because that way it would get her point across.

She settled on hanger. She let herself get angry, remembering the time he and Cyborg snuck into her room and got trapped in her mirror. Or the time he spilled ink on her new book. She reached out with her emotions and touched him with it.

Beast Boy furrowed his brow. "Well? Aren't you gonna _do_ something?" he asked impatiently.

"Yeah, in a sec." Happy. Get happy. She thought of when she first met the Titans at Starfire's crash-landing and they accepted her. She thought of how she felt when she realized she was free of Trigon forever. She touched him again.

He giggled stupidly. "C'mon, Rae! You know you can trust me with whatever you- Woah!"

Raven smiled smugly.

"Did you do that?" Beast Boy asked incredulously.

She nodded.

"Dude! That's awesome!" Beast Boy shouted happily.

They talked for a couple of minutes. Mostly, Beast Boy recounted particularly exciting (not really) points in a video game. Then, he yawned and stretched.

"What's the matter?" Raven demanded.

"Nothing. I'm just, like, super tired all of a sudden. I think I might go to-"

"You were fine a second ago," she pointed out.

"I know. Calm down. It's not a big deal. I'll see ya tomorrow," he said with another yawn.

Raven clutched her hands into fists. No, no, this wasn't good. If Beast Boy was that tired after just two rounds… Robin had been going to sleep early. Earlier and earlier every day. And Beast Boy said that Starfire had gone to sleep early, too, and Raven had used emotion manipulation on her today. No, no, no… if tiredness was a side effect of it… No, no, no, no… She was overreacting. It wasn't how it seemed.

She rushed back to her room. Robin was sleeping soundly, not even under the covers. His shoes were even still on. She sat next to him and shook his shoulder. He jumped immediately, hands flying to his belt. "What? What's wrong?"

"Robin," she whispered fearfully, "you love me, right?"

He looked thoroughly confused. "What?"

"Do you? Do you love me?"

He raised an eyebrow at her and put a hand on the small of her back, pulling her close. "Of course I do. You know that." He traced her cheek with his index finger. "And, actually, I think I was promised a little kissing before…"

She leaned into him, relieved. There was no way she did that. She had to reach out with her emotions. She didn't just now. Everything was fine.

Robin pulled her into a soft, tired little kiss. Raven let her hands rest on his chest as he slid his hands to her hips. It was a simple kiss, and she liked the soft electricity that flowed between them.

"Are you coming to sleep now?" he asked softly, rubbing his cheek against her neck.

Actually, she was tired. Yeah. But, Robin, get your shoes off my bed or I'm kicking you out."

Robin fake pouted and kicked his shoes off. He lifted the covers and they crawled under them. They lay against each other, with one of Robin's hands thrown over her hip.

There was a banging on the door. Raven and Robin both sat up quickly, squinting into the morning. Raven glanced at Robin, who had immediately gone into defense mode. She shrugged and levitated over to the door. She opened it a crack.

"Raven, please, I must speak with you. It is very urgent!"

"Starfire. What time is it?" Raven asked tiredly.

"It is past the clock of seven, and I thought-" the alien froze as she glanced over Raven's shoulder. She caught a glimpse of Robin in Raven's bed. She clenched her jaw shut and continued a little more calmly, "Please. I really wish to speak to you. Alone."

Raven shrugged after glancing at Robin and pulled the door closed behind her. "Okay, what's the- yaah!" she grunted as Starfire grabbed her arm and pulled her along. She didn't stop dragging the poor girl behind her until they arrived on top of the roof. "What?" Raven demanded sourly, yanking her arm out of Starfire's grip.

"I think that you have made a horrible mistake regarding Robin," Starfire informed her.

Raven's heart stopped. This was oddly reminiscent of her own train of thought from last night. No. "What do you mean?" she asked nervously.

Starfire tapped her fingers together nervously. "I mean no offense. I wish for us to be friends again, Raven, but I must bring this to your attention, as it is having an ill effect on me- and I mean a physical effect."

"I don't know what you mean," Raven answered evenly.

"Raven… After the defeat of Trigon, you commenced to lock yourself in your room. You felt again, and I understand that you wanted privacy. But then you came out, and things began changing." Starfire glanced at her friend nervously. "Have you noticed that anything is different?"

"No," Raven answered defensively.

Starfire kept looking at her with huge eyes. "Are you certain? Because in the past week, I have gotten massive aching heads that are prone to my people only when one is attempting to deny or eschew their emotions."

Raven's eyes widened. She'd been hurting Starfire. That was, along with the amount that taking Robin away from her had hurt her. No, she didn't take Robin away from her. Robin chose Raven. That was all there was to it. "I don't-" Raven protested weakly.

"I do not wish to hurt you, Raven, but you must do what is right."

Raven's knees buckled underneath her under the barrage of Starfire's doubt and of her own. How could this have happened? Was everything a lie? She leaned into the Tamaranean, who kneeled next to her friend and put her arms around her comfortingly. Tears stung at Raven's eyes. The entire time she'd been able to feel, this is the first time she cried.

She was overreacting, crying like this. Flying off the handle like Starfire usually did. She was vaguely embarrassed, but it felt so good giving in to her emotions that she didn't care very much.

While all these feelings were swirling around, she detached herself. Crying was certainly not fun, and feeling depressed was- well, depressing. But she couldn't help think that it was bittersweet. She remembered being happy, and she craved it now. Which almost made it worse. But she knew that the next time she was happy, maybe it would be even sweeter because she had this feeling to remember.

"I love him…" Raven muttered into Starfire's hair.

Starfire didn't say anything. Raven looked up at her friend to find her eyes coated in a sheen of tears. "I am sorry," Starfire whispered to her friend. "It is difficult, feeling this way."

"Are you sure? Maybe he really does love me. Maybe it's just a coincidence that I picked up this ability and he returned my feelings…"

Starfire paused before nodding slowly, although Raven could feel the doubt coming from her.

"I didn't do it on purpose…" Raven sniffled.

"Perhaps, if his feelings are true, nothing will change."

Raven stared at her. That was true. And she could feel the dread coming from Starfire as she spoke that sentence. There was a chance that it was true, and if it was, it would completely destroy Starfire. But she was encouraging Raven. In a moment of thoughtless, overemotional deliria, Raven squeezed Starfire quickly, in a friendly and thankful hug. Starfire looked delighted. But then she frowned.

"Raven, did you not think that this might be going on?" Starfire asked, careful to leave any hint of accusation out of her voice.

Raven nodded once. "It only occurred to me yesterday. I never meant for anything like this to happen."

"It is all right," Starfire reassured her, squeezing her hand.

Raven wasn't so sure, but she took Starfire back to her room, where Robin was pacing anxiously. He looked somewhat surprised to see the two of them together. "Uh… What's up?"

Raven stepped close to him, which made Robin glance nervously at Starfire. "I'm sorry," she murmured, hoping her eyes weren't shiny and her face wasn't red.

"Why? What's the matter?" he asked, all of his attention on her.

"I told you I wouldn't manipulate your emotions," she whispered.

"What do you mean?" he questioned gently, sounding a little worried.

She put her hands on his temples and chanted, "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos…"

She didn't really know exactly how to undo the emotions she'd caused, so she just tried to remember what it was like before any of this started. The way she thought Robin was a fraternal figure rather than a romantic one. How they felt safe with each other. And she reminded herself that Starfire really did deserve him, as much as she hated to admit it. Starfire was so supportive of Raven, she really did want Robin and Starfire to be together if she couldn't have him herself.

The power faded from her fingertips and she stepped back, looking at him curiously.

He gaped at her, his eyes wide. He looked at Starfire, then at Raven, then back again. He didn't look angry or upset; he just looked shocked. Then he bolted. The girls leaped out of the way as he ran for the door.

"What the-?" Raven muttered, unimpressed with his display.

"Robin does not enjoy dealing with emotions," Starfire explained sadly.

Raven looked at Starfire. "What now?"

Starfire shrugged, then her stomach rumbled loudly. "Oh… I suppose that I am quite hungry. Shall we…?"

Instead of collapsing onto the ground in a depressed heap like she wanted to, Raven nodded and the girls walked into the ops room. Cyborg and Beast Boy were trying to do _something_. Beast Boy was holding up a thin piece of paper and reading from it. "Why are the instructions in French?" he whined.

Cyborg was hovering over the Gamestation. "Man, I don't know." He froze when he saw the girls enter the room together. Beast Boy turned when he saw Cyborg's reaction. His eyes went wide. "Um, hi guys," he said. "Is everything, um, good?"

Raven smiled at him. "It's getting there," she answered.

"Oh… uh, good. Wanna help? We're trying to get the Gamestation connected to the internet. Can you speak French, Star?" beast Boy asked hopefully.

Starfire shook her head with an apologetic grimace.

"Oh. Wanna learn? I'm sure we can find a French guy for you to kiss in this town."

Starfire looked taken aback. Raven shot Beast Boy an annoyed glance and shot a blast of dark energy at him. The girls laughed as he flipped backward onto his elbows.

"I was kidding!" he whined. But he was smiling, glad everything was okay.

Raven frowned. He was smiling at her and he had that stupid buzzy feeling. She couldn't quite place it. She let the frown slide into a smile. Maybe things _were_ going to be alright.

**Okay! There you go! Things are moving. Two more chapters, guys, and they are gonna be conclusive. I tried to put some last minute fluff in here. Did you like it? Let me know so I can do it again! **

**Also, sorry guys, no teaser for the next chapter. You'll find out who Robin picks, though. I want to hear your guesses!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Warning: This chapter has **_**substantially less plot **_**and **_**exponentially more fluff **_**than the previous chapter. **

**Disclaimer: Teen Titans is owned by Warner Brothers and DC.**

Starfire watched the boys from the couch next to Cyborg. The girls decided to stay away from the bedrooms, giving Robin some space. They also agreed not to go to him themselves. If he was making a decision, it wouldn't be fair for either of them to sway his decision.

Their friendship was in a fragile state before, but now they were close again. Raven was much more social, and now she was sitting next to Beast Boy, watching disinterestedly as his robot kicked Cyborg's in the face.

Raven rolled her eyes as Beast Boy let out a whoop, but Starfire thought she saw the slightest curve of a smile touch her face.

At midnight, the teenagers decided to turn it in. Neither Cyborg nor Beast Boy commented on Robin's absence.

"Good night, friends," Starfire called. She stepped into her room, which seemed somehow happier. Silkie was nowhere to be found.

Starfire changed into pajamas, selecting a white camisole and purple sweatpants. She stretched, almost catlike, raising one elbow over her head and going onto her tiptoes. "Silkie!" she called before crawling under the covers. "Time for bed, my little bumgorf!"

She sighed. Maybe he was with Beast Boy. She wanted to check first, though. She threw the covers away and crossed her room to the door. She opened the it and almost jumped.

Robin was standing at her door, a white, wiggly larva squirming in his hands. He was obviously about to knock, and he looked a little jumpy himself. He was dressed in a green T-shirt and grey sweatpants. Starfire didn't quite know what to say.

He cleared his throat. "I thought you might be looking for him."

"I was," she answered, pointedly looking at the larva in his hands and not at him. She scooped Silkie out of Robin's arms, careful not to touch him. He cuddled against Starfire's chest.

Robin didn't move, and neither did she. He looked sad. "Robin?" she asked slowly. "Are you okay?"

He didn't move or give any indication that he'd heard her. After about half an uncomfortable minute of Starfire wondering whether or not she should close the door and go to sleep, he managed, "You're mad at me."

A strong emotion swept through her like a gale, leaving her insides tingling and throat tight. "No," she answered softly. "I am not."

Robin straightened out. She didn't even notice that he was slouching. He looked almost taller than her. "You aren't?" he asked eagerly.

She shook her head, unable to say anything.

He kept looking at her for a while before he asked, slowly and almost unsurely, "Can I come in?"

"Of course!" she squeaked, suddenly nervous.

He entered slowly, and the silence between them was only cut when the door slid shut. He was looking at her an awful lot. It made her nervous. She put Silkie down and he wiggled off under her bed.

"Robin?" she asked timidly.

He stepped close to her, keeping his hands carefully at his sides. She didn't step back, but she didn't let herself get swept up in the excitement that was flowing through her, either. She watched him carefully, her eyes on his mask the entire time. He brought his face close to hers and she shut her eyes to avoid going cross-eyed.

He brushed his lips against hers, but it wasn't a kiss. It was just pressure, light as a feather before he pulled back. It was asking permission. She leaned forward slightly, giving him her answer.

He stepped even closer and he kissed her gently, cupping her jaw in his palm. To Starfire, it was like breathing fresh air after standing behind a bus exhaust for hours. He moved his lips against hers slowly, the hand not on her face sliding to her hip, pulling her closer. She couldn't keep her hands at her sides anymore. She brought them up to stroke through his hair and rested them at his neck, pulling his face closer, kissing him harder. He brushed his tongue across her lower lip before sliding it into her mouth, brushing against hers lightly. She was leaning on him for support. He made an irritated noise against her mouth and backed them up until her knees hit her bed, which she stumbled into and fell onto, sprawled out on her back.

Robin straddled her hips and leaned over her to kiss her again, reaching a hand up to tangle it in her hair as he brought one hand to her hip and kneaded the skin there. She pressed her hands against his chest and raked her fingers down slowly before letting her fingers disappear underneath the hem of his shirt to trace the outline of his abdomen. He hissed against her mouth and drew back slightly to take in a gulp of fresh air. She twisted her fingers in the material of his shirt as he pressed kisses down her neck and across her throat, nipping at her collarbone before sucking on it.

She gasped and pushed him away gently, and reluctantly he let her.

They were both out of breath. He leaned over her, panting, watching her carefully. She grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him down next to her, unwrapping his legs from her around her waist. She rested her fingers on his chest and cuddled into him. He put his arm around her, gathering her closer. He pressed butterfly kisses over her cheeks and across her nose.

When she regained her breath, she twisted until she was on her stomach and propped herself up on her elbows so that she was looking down at him. He ran his fingers through her silky hair and slid his fingers over her shoulders. Her eyes filled with tears.

"What's the matter?" he asked softly, trailing his fingers over her cheek.

"I was not sure that we would ever do this again," she admitted.

He wiped at her eye with his knuckle and it came away salty. He didn't know what to say. He stroked his thumb over her cheek. She nuzzled into his touch. "Please," she murmured, her mouth touching the heel of his hand, "stay with me tonight." She pressed her lips against his hand and kissed it.

"Of course," he answered. She settled back against his chest contentedly. He brushed her hair away from her face.

"I'm sorry," they both said at the same time.

Starfire waited patiently for him to continue, but he was too busy gaping at her. "Star. I really don't understand why you're apologizing at all."

"I should have known that you would never do that to me," she explained, pointedly not looking at him. "I should have known that something was wrong."

Robin made another irritated noise before turning her a little roughly to face him. Her brow was knitted in concern, but he ignored that and kissed her. When he stopped, he let his fingers trace their way from her cheek down her throat and across her collarbone. "God, Star, I love you. I don't deserve you."

She cuddled into his chest again. "Yes, you do," she assured him.

He threaded his fingers through her hair. "Don't apologize again. I should never have done any of that. It's all my fault, Starfire. Raven's powers are new and she can't control them. I should have known something was off."

"May we agree that the fault lies with no one, then?" Starfire asked.

Robin smiled at her. "Whatever you want."

Starfire smiled at him. "I just want you," she murmured against his shirt.

"Wish granted," Robin answered.

Starfire grinned stupidly. As he picked up his hand to touch her face again, she caught it, furrowing her brow in concentration as she examined it. "What happened to your hand?"

Robin pulled it away from her. "Oh. I hurt myself while I was… training. Like a week ago," he mumbled. On his right hand, his first few knuckles were the yellow color of a week-old bruise and there was a light scratch on his first knuckle. "It's not a big deal."

Starfire tugged his hand back to her. She kissed his hand a few times before shuffling up and catching his mouth in another kiss. Robin moved his right hand to Starfire's stomach and slipped his fingers under the hem of her shirt. He let his fingers skate over her ribs and she sighed into his mouth.

She drew back then and she pressed a kiss to his neck. Robin twisted his hand in the material of her thin shirt. She kissed him down to his collar before sliding a hand under his shirt. He tensed a little. He was self-conscious about the myriad scars he'd accumulated since he was eight, but she didn't seem bothered. She traced the thin line of one scar from his abs up to his pectoral muscle. He shivered and grabbed her arm. "Stop that," he groaned.

"What?" she asked innocently. She trailed her finger along the line again. "This?"

Robin took her shoulders and flipped them over so that he was in control. She protested but he quieted her with a quick kiss before moving down her throat to her collarbone again. She picked up her arms and raked her fingers through his hair. He pressed his mouth against the few inches of exposed skin between her collarbone and her shirt before he placed a love bite in the crook of her neck. While he was working that area, he put his hand on the outside of her thigh and dragged his fingers up until he reached the elastic in the waistband of her sweatpants before running them back down again.

After a few minutes of that, she pulled him up for another kiss. "Robin," she murmured, "if I cannot get any sleep tonight I might have to reconsider your sleeping in my bed."

He pulled away from her. "Fine, fine. We'll sleep now."

They shuffled under the covers, their bodies pressed together like spoons, Robin with his hands around Starfire's waist. He kissed the back of her neck.

When she woke up, she woke up happy for the first time in a week. She rolled her head over to look at Robin, who was sleeping soundly. He had rolled away from her in sleep- or maybe she rolled away from him- and he was lying flat on his back now. Starfire tried to slip out of bed without waking him up. She gingerly scooted to the edge of her mattress-

"Where're you going?" he slurred sleepily without moving at all.

Of course she couldn't slip away without him noticing. No apprentice of Batman would ever let someone sneak in or out of a room as long as they were in it.

"I'll be right back," she assured him.

He didn't seem inclined to protest, so she floated to the door. Oh, she'd missed the ability to fly in the last week.

She floated down the hall and stopped at Raven's room. She put her ear against the door. She couldn't hear anything. She floated down to the ops room. As soon as she smelled herbal tea, she landed. She felt guilty. She bit her lip and walked through the doors as they hissed open.

"Raven…" she called gently, not knowing what to say but wanting to say something.

"I already know," she answered without turning around.

Starfire felt like sinking. "I am sorry."

Raven turned to her friend slowly. She was holding a cup of tea between her hands. "I don't want you to be sorry."

"Oh," Starfire answered quickly. She wanted to apologize for being sorry, but she knew that was silly.

Raven sighed. "I know you're sorry anyway. I can feel it on you. It… it was my fault that any of this even happened, Starfire. I couldn't control myself. I felt you two loving each other so much and I- I wanted it. So instead of going out and finding my own, I took it from you."

Starfire felt really distressed. Raven was going through so much. She remembered _being_ Raven. She couldn't really control her emotions- it was difficult and it made her feel like a prisoner in her own (well, Raven's own) body. Raven had a whole _lifetime_ of controlling her emotions.

"Starfire, it's okay, don't get-"

"I love Aqualad," Starfire blurted out.

Raven let her eyes widen. "_What?_" Anger and disbelief and shock colored her voice.

Starfire rushed on, warming up to her own idea. "I love Speedy. I love Bumble Bee, and I love Beast Boy, and I love Cyborg. I love Red Star, and Jericho, and the Herald, and-"

"Starfire," Raven interrupted, annoyed that her friend worried her so much over nothing.

"No, please, allow me to continue! I love Kole and Gnaark and Hotspot and Wildebeest. They are all people who give me the warm feeling and I admire and respect them and I wish for them to be happy when they are in my presence. However, I love Beast Boy and Cyborg perhaps just a little more than I love Gnaark." She held her fingers a few inches apart. "And my affections for Robin are more intense than my feelings for you and for Beast Boy and for Cyborg." Starfire tilted her head at Raven.

Raven narrowed her eyes at her friend slowly. "That's different, though. It's not love. It's friendship."

Starfire walked toward Raven as she spoke. "Oh, but Raven, it is _not_ so different. It is different in intensity, . And for one… such as yourself, the line between best friend and… and something more might be hard to decipher." She chewed her lip and clasped her hands at her chest.

Raven narrowed her eyes at Starfire. "I'm not an idiot. I know the difference…"

The alien princess winced. "I did not mean that. I simply meant… Well, for the longest of times I was not aware of that line, but not in quite the same way as you. I had the romantic feelings for Robin and I was confused, thinking them to be platonic. I believe that he was confused as well, and that is why… well…" She blushed, looking at Raven hopefully.

Raven nodded slowly. "Okay. I can see that. But I felt such strong feelings coming from Robin… I thought…"

"Robin has been very concerned about you lately. I believe that you and he are best friends. He spoke to me once of a bond that you have? I did not quite understand, but I know that you two are special to each other. And that can be confusing." Starfire tapped her fingers together nervously.

The empath thought about this for a moment. "Were, you mean."

"Excuse me?" Starfire asked, confused.

"Were special to each other. Now… he must hate me. I made him kiss me. That's not something that you can just bounce back from."

"Oh, but Raven, you did not do such things on purpose! It was in your subconscious. Robin understands. He loves you, Raven. Just… in a different way than you thought previously."

Raven was silent and Starfire ran her fingers through her hair nervously. "Raven?" Starfire called after a few moments.

"I need help, Starfire," the empath said, her voice thick with emotion.

The alien stepped forward and hugged Raven gently before stepping back. "I can help you. I am available for teaching, and for answering questions, and for guidance. As you have been for me on the subject of Earth culture."

Raven let out a relieved sigh and Starfire resisted the urge to hug her again. "I want you to know that I'm really, really, really sorry about what happened. I didn't mean for any of it. I'm just… so confused. I guess it's like seeing in color for the first time and thinking that purple and blue are the same."

Starfire nodded. "All is forgiven." She smiled at her friend encouragingly.

"Thanks," Raven answered shakily. She drew up her white hood self-consciously.

Starfire backed up. She grabbed four slices of bread, butter, and a knife from the drawer before heading back to her room. She entered and Robin stretched in her bed. She smiled at the sight of him swaddled in her pink blankets.

"Where'd you go?" he asked, stifling a yawn.

"I retrieved nourishment for the breaking of the fast." She held up the bread and butter.

Robin smiled at her fondly. "Thanks, Star, but usually you toast the bread."

Her face fell. "Oh! I am sorry! I shall go back and prepare a proper-"

She turned and he was suddenly in front of the door. She gaped at him. He was in her bed a second ago.

Robin looked pleased with himself. "It's okay. Really. I'd prefer it if you stayed here."

"But how did you-?" She stammered, looking from her door back to the bed.

Robin crossed his arms over his chest and gave her a toothy grin. "You can do it, too, if you train under the Batman for eight years." His smile faded slowly as he lost himself in his own thoughts.

She tugged him back to sit on her bed and shoved a piece of bread, the knife, and the butter in his hand. He slapped butter on the bread and shoved it in his mouth.

"Robin?" she asked softly as soon as his mouth was full.

He raised an eyebrow at her.

"I would like for you to do me a favor." She paused and he nodded, still with his mouth full. "I want you to tell Raven that you are not angry with her for what happened."

He raised his eyebrow even higher and she twirled a lock of hair in her fingers, hoping she looked innocent. s

"Why?" he asked as soon as he swallowed all the bread he'd shoved in his mouth.

"She seems distressed over what has occurred."

"Well… yeah. And to be perfectly honest, I kind of am too. It was weird," he explained, not looking very happy about the fact that he had to explain it at all. "Aren't you bothered?"

"Of course. But there are more important things at risk than my botheration," she answered patiently.

"Like what?" he questioned doubtfully as he spread butter on another piece of bread.

Starfire shot him a worried look. "Like our friendship!"

Robin sighed. "I'm sure you're being a little dramatic."

She chewed her lip nervously before answering. "I am not. It is important that you make sure she knows that you are willing to resume your friendship."

"Won't she just be able to sense that I'm not mad at her?" he asked impatiently.

Starfire rolled her eyes. "Of course. But it would send a clearer message if you talked to her about it."

The Teen Wonder groaned.

"You _do_ plan on resuming your friendship, do you not?" she demanded, panic rising in her voice.

"Of course," he assured her quickly. "But… I could use a few days to put all this behind me. You know. Just… get some space."

Her eyes grew round with worry. "That is not acceptable!"

"Why not? I think it's perfectly reasonable," he countered. He sounded like he was getting annoyed.

"Because of the rekmas! The drifting!" she answered urgently.

Robin sighed. "Okay, okay, fine. That won't work every time you want me to do something, though." He took a bite out of his bread, signifying the end of the conversation.

"Of course not. I have plenty of other ways to manipulate-" She cut herself off with a cough as he raised an eyebrow at her.

**Well, that about wraps it up for Starfire and Robin. I'm starting to worry that my fluff gets a little repetitive. It's probably my fault for writing like ten things at once. This chapter actually took a while to write, because in my head everything is all resolved and I wanted to start on another project. But I am making myself finish this fic first! One more chapter guys! Hopefully, everything with Raven will get tied up neatly. I basically know how I want to finish it, but I think I'm going to have trouble getting from the beginning of the chapter to the end. Or maybe I have the middle and end worked out but I'm not sure about the beginning. Sigh. I hope you guys appreciate all that I do for you. =p **

**Also, I'm reading this over trying to find a teaser for chapter 10… I have no idea what I'm going to use! This is why I can't put more fluff than plot in a chapter! Obviously, by the time you read this, I will have already chosen a teaser, so… I'm sorry if it was bad? It's hard because I don't want to give away who Robin ends up with! Although I'm such a RobStar shipper, it shouldn't be a surprise anyway.**

**Here is your last teaser, which I am sure will also be hard to find!**

"Raven?"

She flinched. Robin came to talk to her so soon. She didn't turn. Not that she didn't appreciate what Starfire was trying to do, but she was still so embarrassed.

"I wanted to make sure that you were okay."

She sighed and then forced a smile on her face, careful not to make it too wide so that it didn't just look scary. "Of course. I'm fine."

He frowned at her. "I really wish you wouldn't lie to me."


	12. Chapter 12

**To my anon, and anyone else who might feel the same way as they did: It's cool if you hate RobStar!It's totally cool if you hate the direction I hve chosen to take this story. I am not offended that you dislike my otp! I'm sorry for get your hopes up, except not sorry because that was the point. Hopefully you won't hate the end of this too much. I just wanted to experiment with RobRae, and I did, but I found that I still prefer RobStar. So Rob Star'd. Not sorry for that, cause now I know. Thanks for reading and I hope you stuck around to this character!**

**Last installment! Yay! Enjoy it, guys!**

Raven sighed. Her episode with Starfire left her embarrassed and unsure of herself. She was glad that her friend would be there to help her, but she was nervous about it, too. Maybe she shouldn't be taking her cues from overemotional Starfire. Or maybe that would be a good balance. It was a little scary to think about.

So she didn't. She assumed the lotus position, hovering above the cushion and chanting her mantra. Blocking out everything. Everything. Including emotions.

It was never this hard. She'd never felt like it was really hard to block out emotions before. She never even thought it was unfair. She was Trigon's daughter. The spawn of the One True Evil. Conqueror and torturer of infinite dimensions. She didn't deserve to have emotions. It seemed perfectly fair to her.

But now… Now it was hard. It was so unfair. She'd had a taste. And even though it was wrong, and twisted, and she felt guilty about it, it was so sweet while it lasted. She craved it. She needed more. But no… she couldn't think like that. Her unbridled emotions were still causing so much pain around her. How could she really be happy if she left destruction in her wake?

She could only go back to the way things were before. It was the only way. It shouldn't be that hard. She'd learned to smother her emotions and had been doing it expertly for literally her entire life. She couldn't have unlearned all that in two weeks.

Maybe there was a spell. It would probably be dark magic, but she would take that risk. She'd only be using it on herself, anyway.

"Raven?"

She flinched. Robin came to talk to her so soon. She didn't turn. Not that she didn't appreciate what Starfire was trying to do, but she was still so embarrassed.

"Rae?"

Hang on, that wasn't Robin. "Beast Boy?" She lowered her hood as she turned.

"Yeah," he answered sheepishly. "I wanted to make sure that you were okay."

She sighed and then forced a smile on her face, careful not to make it too wide so that it didn't just look scary. "Of course. I'm fine."

He frowned at her. "I really wish you wouldn't lie to me."

She let out a puff of air as her face slipped back into a neutral expression, like she was straining to keep the smile on her face. "Is it that obvious?"

"No. I just know you," he answered. He moved to sit next to her, but paused before sitting next to her. He raised his eyebrow the tiniest bit, enough to convey that he was asking a question.

She nodded and he sat. She let her legs touch down on the cushion but kept her legs crossed.

"So… Robin and Starfire are back together?" he guessed.

Raven felt a stab of pain in her chest. She nodded.

"Are you upset about that?" Beast Boy asked slowly.

"I'm glad. They deserve each other." She looked down at her hands.

"That's not what I asked," he pointed out softly.

"I don't know how I feel about it. I'm so confused. I honestly feel happy, but there's an undercurrent of sadness. I can't even tell which emotions are mine anymore. It's so difficult…" she shook her head and covered her eyes with her fingers.

Beast Boy didn't say anything. He closed his eyes and sat quietly. After a couple seconds, a warm glow started to fill the emptiness in her chest.

Raven uncovered her eyes and raised an eyebrow at him. "What are you doing?"

"Sorry. Is that okay?" He backed away from her slightly.

"No. I appreciate it." He smiled at her and the feeling in her chest grew. "What are you thinking about?" she asked softly.

"My mom. Rita. Well, she's my adoptive mom, but I just call her my mom. She earned the title. I'm thinking of ice cream and video games and pizza."

Raven narrowed her eyes at him. There was more that he wasn't telling her. "What else?"

"N-nothing. Just that stuff," he answered quickly.

She didn't need empathic powers to know he was lying, but she didn't press the issue. Her powers didn't give her an excuse to pry.

"How can you do that? Just make yourself happy like that? Are memories really enough to trigger it?" she asked, changing the subject.

He gave her a little shrug. "It works for me. I usually find distractions when I'm in a bad mood or whatever. Video games. Get Cy to throw around a Frisbee for me. Eat ice cream with Star. It's different for everybody."

Raven pondered at that. She should try that. What happy memories did she have? The first one she could really remember was Robin accepting her onto their team even though she warned him not to. Or the first time Starfire asked her to 'accompany her to the mall of shopping'. Of course, she'd said no, but it was nice to be wanted. Or when Cyborg told her she was a great listener.

"Anything?" Beast Boy asked, taking her thoughtful silence to mean that she was trying out memories.

"I think so." While she wasn't getting any happier, she was finding it harder to be depressed. She had all her friends around her. Even Robin. If he'd accepted her on his team without knowing anything about her at all, maybe he could extend that same trust again and forgive her this time. Maybe.

"You think so? What's that mean?"

"I feel better. But not… You know, happy. I can't tell. Maybe that's just you being happy that's rubbing off on me." Raven sighed. "It's so difficult to tell the difference between my emotions and other peoples'."

"Maybe you need practice?" Beast Boy suggested.

"How am I supposed to-?"

"We'll help you!" he interrupted with a smile.

"How?" Raven demanded.

"I've got ideas." Beast Boy tapped his head with a smile. "I was actually talking about it with Cyborg last night, and I think if we-"

Raven turned away from him. She sensed him behind her. Beast Boy followed her gaze. Robin was standing at the door, watching them.

"Um, I'll go talk to Star about it and then report back," Beast Boy informed her as he leaped off the couch and slinked past Robin.

"Um… Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt," Robin mumbled as he scratched at the nape of his neck.

Raven flipped her hood up. "You weren't. We were just talking."

"Yeah. I know. But still. Sorry."

She squeezed her eyes shut. She wished he would come into the room instead of standing in the doorway. It hurt, having him watch her warily. She could feel all kinds of tense emotions rolling off him. Block it, Raven… block it…

She sensed him move further into the room, but he just leaned against the countertop. It seemed as though she would have to begin whatever dialogue they would have. "Robin… I'm really sorry."

He was silent for a moment. Then, "I know."

Ouch. Not 'it's okay' or anything half as reassuring. He was being so formal.

"Is everything… okay between you and Starfre?" Raven asked, wincing as she did it. As much as she wanted things to work out with them, it was so awkward asking.

"I think so. Thanks for asking."

"That's what friends do. I mean… we are still…?" she choked and couldn't finish the sentence.

She heard him take a few steps toward her. He put his hand on the back of the couch a few feet away from her and she forced herself not to turn around to look at him. She remained facing the windows in the lotus position.

"Of course we are." The rigid way he said it wasn't very comforting, but he was trying. "I'm… not mad at you."

That made her turn. She scrutinized him. He looked so nervous talking to her now. "Then what are you feeling?"

He rolled the fabric of the couch between his fingers. "Can't you tell?"

She swallowed and shook her head. "I'm having a hard time separating other peoples' feelings from my own. I can't tell what's yours and what's mine… I don't sense a great deal of anger though."

He pushed his fingers through his hair. "I'm confused. About us. Not… I mean, Raven, I love Starfire. I'm confused about…"

"I broke your trust," she murmured weakly.

"Well… yeah. I know it wasn't on purpose. I know it's difficult for you. But I feel… victimized." He looked at her helplessly.

That hurt a lot. Her stomach sank and she felt weak. The only thing that offered her any condolence at all was the amount of guilt she could feel from him. "I'm sorry," she choked. It was all she could say.

"I don't want to feel this way. I trust you in battle. I know you're on my side. I know we can be a team out there." He gestured toward the city beyond their island. "But I don't know about… now. I really don't want you messing around in my head."

"I'm not in your head," she defended herself. "It's not mind control or hypnotizing. It's feeling."

Robin stayed quiet. After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, he said, "Maybe that's worse. It's like being drugged…"

Tears pricked at her eyes. "I just need to learn to control it…"

"I really don't want you to use your powers on my again," he said sternly.

Raven closed her eyes. She could understand that. "What about healing?"

"I'd rather do it on my own. Maybe in extreme cases. Never emotional healing. Never." As he continued, his voice became weaker. Like he was afraid.

A tear leaked down one cheek. He was afraid of her. How ironic that only after her father's demonic presence had been removed he saw her as a threat! That really twisted the knife.

"No… Raven, don't…" He ran a hand through his hair again and hopped over the back of the couch. He put his hand on her shoulder. "Don't cry."

She wanted him to hold her. She hated herself for it. But she wanted it.

"We just need to work past this. You're a valued member of my team. And…" His voice got softer and he curled his fingers around her shoulder in a supportive squeeze. "… and I want to recover our friendship. It'll take time but… I think it'll come naturally. We just can't push it. Okay? Please don't…"

She looked up at him. Her eyes were still brimming with tears, but she made herself look at him. "I'm glad that you're being honest with me. I need to know what you're thinking. It just… hurts. Which is probably what I deserve anyway."

"It wasn't your fault," Robin reminded her.

"I… I know." She offered him a watery smile. "I'll practice. I just need to stop mixing up my own emotions with the emotions of everyone around me. I need a filter…"

Robin nodded, obviously not knowing what to say.

"I'm sorry," she said again.

He removed his hand from her shoulder. "I… I accept your apology. Raven, I don't want to say 'it's okay' if I don't mean it. It's not right. I know that it was a mistake. But it really created a lot of problems. I'm just hoping you can learn from this. Maybe now you know what it feels like when you use your powers so forcefully." He was lecturing her, but he was trying to do it in a soft voice.

"You're right." She turned away from him, not wanting be near him anymore. They both said what they needed to. Now some space was in order.

He got the hint pretty quickly. "Okay. Come find me if… if you need to talk about it." It was a sweet offer, but he was just about the last person she wanted to talk to anymore. And she didn't really think he was too anxious to speak to her again. "And Raven… I'm really not. Mad at you, I mean."

She nodded and waited until the door opened and closed. It took about a full minute. He was reluctant to leave her there on her own, but she really didn't want to talk to him anymore.

When she was sure he was gone, she let herself flop onto the cushions on her stomach and cried. It felt so good to cry. She'd never been able to just cry. This was the first time. It was such an indulgence. Letting everything out like that was so rewarding.

She jumped when she felt a hand on her back. She jerked up, leaning on a straightened arm, bracing herself on her palm. It was Beast Boy. He looked so worried. She pushed herself into a sitting position and rested her head against his shoulder, still crying.

Surprised, it took him a minute to put his arm over her shoulders and pat her hand with his. It was a little awkward, but it was what she wanted. Needed. Desperately needed.

"It's okay," Beast Boy murmured softly. He brushed her hair away from her face and Raven burrowed into his touch. She pushed away suddenly, more tears brimming in her eyes.

"No… Beast Boy… I can't…" she hiccupped.

"What's the matter? Did I do something stupid? I'm sorry," he blurted.

"No… it's not you… I can't control powers. I'm forcing you to do this. I don't want to make you do anything…" She hiccupped again. She hated herself.

"Hey. No. Rae. It's not you." He turned her with his fingers splayed across her cheek. "It's not you doing this."

"How do you know?" she demanded.

He let out a puff of air. "Because. You didn't get those powers until after the whole Trigon thing, right?"

She nodded, brushed away her tears with the back of her hand.

He blushed. "Then it's not you. All me. Sorry."

She hiccupped, gaining control over herself. "What do you mean?"

He turned an even deeper shade of red, which made an interesting color against his green skin. "Um… I've kinda wanted to do that for a while." He cringed. "Please don't hit me."

Raven stared at him. "Don't lie."

"I'm not! I swear! Scout's honor!" He held up two fingers pressed together and out his right hand over his heart.

She raised a skeptical eyebrow at him. "Idiot. You have to be a scout for that to work."

He grinned at her. "Really? Nothing makes you feel better except calling me an idiot?"

She wrapped her arms around his chest. "I'm sorry." He didn't put his arms around her back. She didn't know if it was because he was shy or because it was too much, too fast. Either way, she didn't really mind. After Robin's easy acceptance of whatever she wanted, she kind of felt reassured by Beast Boy's hesitancy.

"Huh? No. It's okay. Really. I don't mind it." He patted her head, slightly confused.

"No. I mean… I'm sorry I never noticed."

"Heh. No biggie. So. Um. What now?" he asked, running a hand over his hair at the back.

Raven blushed. "What do you mean?"

"Uh… well… like, I like you… and you know it now… so… like, isn't something supposed to happen now?"

She sat up. "I guess so. But… I need a little time." She bit her lip unsurely. Was that unfair of her? Letting Robin sleep in her room right away but keeping Beast Boy at a distance?

"Yeah. I thought you might. No problem. Um… do you want me to leave?"

"No." Raven rested her head on his shoulder again. "Sit with me. Please."

"Okay," he said, putting his arm around her shoulders again.

The Titans were all sitting in a circle in Raven's room in the lotus position. Raven, Beast Boy, Cyborg, Robin, and Starfire were joining hands. They'd only done this a few times before, and this was the first time Robin joined them. It took a bit of persuading from Beast Boy, but he agreed eventually.

"Are you sure you are prepared for such an exercise?" Starfire asked, her eyebrows slightly furrowed with worry.

"Um… I think so. I won't know until we've tried, though," Raven answered. She was trying not to be annoyed. That was, like, the tenth time Starfire asked her that.

"You'll do great," Beast Boy said supportively, squeezing her hand a little. His squeeze sent tingles through her fingers. She looked at him gratefully.

"Okay," Raven said as she breathed out. She wished she was floating, but that made holding her friends' hands awkward. "Go."

It hit her all at once. All of their emotions. She'd done this exercise with two of them before, but not with all of them. She was supposed to pick out the emotion they were feeling and decipher who was feeling which emotion.

It was a large bungle of emotions, knotted together the way headphones always seemed to be when she haphazardly shoved them into her cloak pocket. Not to mention, they were a little fuzzy, hard to pick out. If she could just get a solid grasp on what they all were, it would be easy to decipher.

A warm glow. That was Starfire. Her feelings were easy to pick out, because her unhappy feelings filled Raven with a pleasant warmth.

"Starfire's feeling hopeful," Raven announced with a smile. She couldn't help it. Starfire's feelings had a strong effect on her. It was too bad that Raven couldn't help Starfire quell her sadness when she felt it. It was hard on Raven, being able to feel it so prominently but not being able to help.

Once she picked that out, the other feelings drifted into focus a little, like adjusting the knob on a microscope. "Um…"

"You can do it, Raven!" Starfire urged.

She focused. One at a time. Slowly. "Really, Robin? Determination? Give me something tricky, why don't you?" She teased.

Robin frowned and slouched a little sulkily. "I didn't want to be too hard on you…" he mumbled in his own defense.

Raven smiled a little at him.

Things between them had been a little weird, but they'd gotten progressively better. Starfire really helped a lot. She'd made Robin check up on Raven every once in a while in the first two weeks after their… episode… and lately he'd been opening up to her again. Little conversations in the hall as he passed her. Raven thought that he was glad she was practicing with her new powers so much instead of staying holed up in her room. He was still a little wary around her, but Raven felt like they might actually be able to go back to what they had before instead of feeling like she'd lost a valued friendship.

That left Cyborg and Beast Boy. "Cyborg… you're feeling… um… smug?"

She wasn't sure. It was coming very strongly, but sometimes it could be hard for her friends to pick a single emotion to feel harder than the others. Besides, when they channeled their emotions a little weaker, it was better practice. She was feeling rather proud of herself for picking that up. She'd come a long way in the five weeks since she got her new powers.

"Heh. Was I? I was going for 'accomplished'. Or something. Robin bet me I couldn't fix the axel on the R-Cycle without buying new parts just because he couldn't figure it out." Cyborg smiled at Robin out of the corner of his eye. "Like _I_ couldn't fix it." Cyborg chuckled and shook his head.

"Jeez. Everybody's ganging up on me today," Robin muttered sulkily.

Unwilling to drop her hands from the circle, Starfire scooted a little closer to him and rubbed the crown or her head against his cheek. "It is okay. They are making the jokes with you," she soothed.

Robin leaned into her and kissed the top of her head affectionately.

"'Ey! Cut it out, you two! You're gonna mess up the exercise!" Cyborg snapped, although he had a smile on his face.

Starfire giggled and sat up properly.

"What about B?" Cyborg asked eagerly.

Raven concentrated. It wasn't that she was having trouble reading Beast Boy's emotions, it was just that she'd been setting up a block to him. Since they started their relationship, she didn't want to have any sway over his emotions, so she'd set up a block. Pulling it down whenever she wanted could be a little tough.

"Beast Boy's feeling…" she smiled widely.

"What?" Starfire asked.

He was feeling love. For her. She could even see it in his expression, how his eyes got soft and somewhat large, but focused right on her. She wasn't going to say that out loud though. She couldn't speak at the moment, anyway. She was too drawn in by the feelings he had. Little tingles fluttered in her chest every time she breathed and she ached with the desire to be close to him.

"Okay, exercise is done," she announced, plucking her hands away from Starfire and Beast Boy's.

"What?" Starfire asked, concerned. "But you didn't finish-"

"It's okay," Raven interrupted with a wave of her hand in Starfire's direction, fixing her eyes on Beast Boy.

Robin raised an eyebrow at her. "Um… c'mon, Star." He stood and tugged her up after him.

"Oh, but is everything okay? Have your powers given you the aching head? Is it too difficult to read four emotions at once?" she fretted nervously.

"Star, let's go," he urged.

She stood tentatively. "But why?"

Robin ran a hand through his hair. "Because… Because… Because everyone was picking on me and I could use some cheering up."

She glanced at Raven nervously before turning her attention back to him. "Very well. I shall recite to you the Tamaranean Poem of Good Cheer. It has four hundred eighty-six stanzas, although reciting them in English, I think the word count will come close to six hundred thousand."

"Uh, wait, that's not what I-"

"Come, as soon as we finish I wish to come check on Raven to be sure that she is faring well," she said in a businesslike tone, and Robin groaned as she dragged him out of Raven's room behind her.

Cyborg chuckled, looking after them. "You better thank him for that later, guys," he said clambering to his feet. "Keep it PG rated," he said over his shoulder.

"No promises," Beast Boy called after him with a sly smirk at Raven as he leaned over to shut the door.

Raven blushed and whacked him gently across the back of the head. "I wish you wouldn't say things like that," she scolded.

"What, you want to keep it PG rated? Really? I mean, whatever you want, Rae, but you're the one who's gonna hafta resist my charms." He waggled his eyebrows at her.

She sighed and grabbed him by the collar. "You'd better shut up while I still want to kiss you," she grumbled.

Beast Boy flashed her a smile. "Shutting up now." He pressed his lips against hers gently.

**Well. This chapter was very hard to crank out. I think because it's all resolution and not much conflict. How was my BBRae? I'm trying to practice it more. The only problem I have with it is that whenever I try it, I make Raven out of character. I hate it when my characters are out of character. How do you guys think I did on that? If it was out of character, I hope you will bear with me. I really wanted to go into Beast Boy's point of view. Because poor Beast Boy. Raven made Robin like her instead of realizing that Beast Boy liked her all the time. But I stayed in Raven's for consistency. I don't think I'm going to write a spinoff on his point of view, because I kind of ran out of steam for this idea. Oh well. It was fun while it lasted. Thanks for reading, guys! I appreciate your support and reviews and faves and alerts and other things that I might be missing. You guys rock.**

**(Also, I know I cheated with last chapter's teaser. I do that sometimes. You silly, trusting readers.)**


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